November 21, 2003	Friday	Ramazan 25, 1424

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20: Malaysian crude palm oil futures rebounded to close higher on Thursday on late short covering after overnight losses in rival Chicago soyaoil and weak exports data had weighed on prices.

Benchmark third-month February contract on the Malaysian Derivatives Exchange ended up 12 ringgit at 1,720 ringgit ($452.63) a ton after hitting an intraday low of 1,649.

Overall volume fell to 6,731 lots from Wednesday’s 7,829.

Cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said on Thursday Malaysian palm oil exports for November 1-20 stood at 655,937 tons, down from 820,681 tons for October 1-20.

He put end-November stocks at 800,000-810,000 tons, compared with 875,083 tons at end-October.

Exports in November were estimated at 1.02 million tons, down from 1.20 million tons for October.—Reuters