March 14, 2003	Friday	Muharram 10, 1424

KUALA LUMPUR, March 13: Malaysian palm oil futures closed mostly lower in sleepy trade on Thursday, unable to sustain earlier gains because of weak fundamentals, traders said.

“Domestic stocks are high and we are not sure whether exports are going to be good this month,” said one dealer.

End-February stocks were estimated by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) at 1.09 million tons, down 0.9 per cent from January, but still around the key psychological level of one million tons.

Private forecaster Ivan Wong estimated end-March stocks at between 1.03-1.04 million tons.

At the close, benchmark May futures were down nine ringgit a ton at 1,492 ringgit a ton after trading as high as 1,506 ringgit.

Overall volume was slow at 2,633 lots compared with 6,204 on Wednesday, when May gained 17 ringgit to 1,501.

In the physical market, sellers offered the March contract at 1,520 ringgit a ton against bids of 1,515 ringgit for southern region.

Deals were done at 1,520 to 1,530 ringgit.

March (central) was offered at 1,515 ringgit against bids of 1,510. Deals were done at 1,512.50 to 1,525.

CPO April contract was offered at 1,520 ringgit against bids of 1,512.50. Deals were done at 1,520 to 1,530.

April (central) was on offer at 1,515 against bids of 1,510.

Deals were reported at 1,515 to 1,525.—Reuters