KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28: Crude palm oil (CPO) trading on Malaysia’s derivatives exchange is expected to remain lacklustre due to a lack of leads after a holiday-shortened week, dealers said on Friday.

Malaysia’s financial markets were closed from for the first three days of the week just ended in conjunction with the Eidul Fitr.

CPO prices for November rose 48 ringgit ($13) during the week to close on Friday at 1,828 ringgit.

“The market was quiet this week, volume was very low. The week only saw two days of trade after all,” said a dealer with a foreign brokerage.

“It is also uncertain whether the current trade friction between United States and China, which has caused soybean oil prices to drop, would cause a similar trend in palm oil prices which traditionally takes its lead from soyabean,” he said.

The US recently moved to restrict imports of Chinese textiles and TV sets, sparking retaliatory cancellations of visits to the US by Chinese cotton, soybean and wheat-buying teams while Beijing said it would hit back with tariffs of its own.

Other traders said CPO prices were expected to trade in a wide range between 1,680 and 1,800.

Players are also awaiting the release of total export figures for the month of November, which is expected to be below the targeted one million tons mark due to the holiday season, they added.

In the futures market, the January contract fell 12 ringgit to settle at 1,775, February ringgit lost 15 ringgit to 1,737 and March dipped 13 ringgit to 1,708.

The average daily price for December was 1,832.5 ringgit a ton.—AFP