KUALA LUMPUR, March 17: Malaysia’s palm oil futures closed lower on Monday, hit by speculative selling due to fears that a US-led war on Iraq was imminent.

US President George W. Bush said on Sunday the United Nations had only one more day to find a diplomatic end to the Iraq crisis before the United States moved to a war footing.

All eyes are on Iraq, said one trader.

The new benchmark third-month futures, June, were 19 ringgit lower at 1,480 ringgit ($389.47) a ton after touching a low of 1,463 ringgit, just above the key support of 1,450 ringgit.

Overall volume was heavy at 10,175 lots.

Traders said the market would be looking for fresh leads coming from a two-day annual edible oils conference organised by the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange (MDEX) that started on Tuesday.

There were deals at 1,500 ringgit a ton.

March/April (central) was offered at 1,505 ringgit a ton against bids of 1,500 ringgit. Deals were done at 1,500 to 1,502.50 ringgit.—Reuters