November 21, 2002	Thursday	Ramazan 15, 1423

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20: Malaysia’s crude palm oil futures edged slightly higher on Wednesday, boosted by a stronger soyoil market, but some chartists said the downtrend was intact due to the absence of fresh leads.

Traders said they factored in November 1-20 palm oil exports data and would focus on other areas such as local production and prospects of demand by main consumers such as India, China and Pakistan.

Cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said Malaysian palm oil exports for November 1-20 stood at 604,514 tonnes, down from 691,394 tonnes for October 1-20.

Overall volume was heavy at 4,092 lots but down from Tuesday’s 5,609 lots.

On the physical market, crude palm oil for Nov saw bids at 1,575 ringgit a ton against sellers’ offers of 1,580 ringgit for southern region. Nov (central) was offered at 1,582.50 ringgit a ton against offers at 1,575 ringgit. Deals were reported at 1,580 to 1,585 ringgit a ton.—Reuters