BANGKOK, June 22: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended up on Wednesday, chasing higher prices of rival US soyaoil, dealer said. Soyaoil and palm oil compete for similar export destinations and their prices often move in step.
In Kuala Lumpur, the benchmark third-month crude palm oil futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, September ended up 11 ringgit at 1,433 ringgit a ton ($377.1).
Its intraday high was 1,442 ringgit and the low was 1,431.
Other traded months closed up 9 to 16 ringgit.
The market ended slightly up, but whether it could still hold in the coming days, I am doubtful, said one dealer.
Overall volume was 5,776 lots of 25 tons each. The market usually sees 6,000 lots or more on a busy day.
Dealers said they expected the market to come down eventually due to lack of fresh news and 1,400 ringgit could be the next viable support.
The market rose further in the afternoon even though there is nothing new on the fundamentals. Fundamentals news, sometimes does not carry weight, said one dealer.
The Malaysian market is something very unique. It does not usually move in tandem with the supply and demand, said another Malaysian dealer.
At 1050 GMT, soyaoil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were up in e-trade, with the July contract up $0.38 at 25.82 cents a pound. —Reuters
