December 24, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 19, 1423

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23: The following are factors likely to affect the performance of Malaysian palm oil futures on Monday:

Malaysian palm oil futures ended down but off lows on Friday after a drop in latest export estimates from cargo surveyor SGS did little to hurt a market glowing over crop prospects for December.

The benchmark third-month March palm oil futures ended five ringgit down at $436 a ton, pulling back from a low of 1,649.

Volume was hefty at 4,616 lots, as there were almost as many trying to pull the market back up as there were those taking profit.

SGS, which is closer watched by traders, said on Friday that Malaysian palm oil exports for December 1-20 stood at 586,487 tons, down from 604,514 tons for the same period in November.

The cargo trekker’s next estimate for December 1-25 will be released a day later because of the Christmas holiday.—Reuters