KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7: Malaysian palm oil closed higher on Wednesday, helped by gains in rival US soyaoil, but trading was thin ahead of export data for September 1-10. The benchmark third-month crude palm oil contract, November, ended up five ringgit at 1,388 ringgit ($368.37) a ton, after trading as high as 1,391.

Overall volume in crude palm oil futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives was a light 2,605 lots of 25 tons each,compared with the 6,000 lots usually seen on a busy day. The market’s leading exports surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, last week estimated growth in August shipments of Malaysian palm oil at just 8.1 per cent versus July, well short of investors’ hopes for growth of 15-20 per cent.

In physical dealings of crude palm oil at Wednesday’s close, delivery for September was offered at 1,380 ringgit a ton and bid at 1,377.50 in the southern region of Malaysia. In the central region, offers/bids stood at 1,380/1,375. Trades were reported at 1,375-1,377.50 ringgit in the south and 1,370-1,375 in the central region. —Reuters