February 7, 2003	Friday	Zul Hijjah 5,1423

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6: Malaysian palm oil futures fell further on Thursday, ending lower across the board due to weakness in the Chicago soyaoil market and the absence of fresh factors, traders said.

At the close, the benchmark third-month April contract was 16 ringgit lower at 1,607 ringgit ($422.89) a ton after trading as high as 1,616 ringgit.

Overall volume was low at 1,774 lots.

There’s nothing to talk about. The market is so quiet, said one dealer, pegging next support at 1,588 and 1,562 ringgit.

The Malaysian market is waiting for private forecaster Ivan Wong to release fresh estimates for January palm oil output, end-month stocks and exports on Friday.

In the physical sector, the Feb/March crude palm oil contract was offered at 1,635 ringgit a ton against bids of 1,625 ringgit for southern and central regions.

Deals were reported at 1,630 ringgit a ton for south and at 1,630 and 1,632.50 ringgit for central.—Reuters