SINGAPORE, Nov 8: Malaysia’s palm oil futures were mostly unchanged in late trade on Tuesday but a rebound in rival soyaoil and renewed buying interest in the physical sector had offered some support.

The benchmark third-month January crude palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended one ringgit higher at 1,433 ringgit ($379.1) a ton.

The contract had touched a low of 1,425 ringgit, just above a key support of 1,420 ringgit.

Overall volume was moderate at 3,462 lots of 25 tons each.

Dealers expected the market to trade in a range of 1,430 to 1,450 ringgit ahead of Nov. 1-10 palm oil exports data due on Thursday. Cargo surveyor SGS put exports at 473,891 tons in Oct. 1-10, up 20.7 per cent from the same period in September.

There’s some covering here and there, said one physical dealer in Kuala Lumpur.

What I heard is that exports will be a little lower than last month’s because there were so many holidays.

I guess exports will be 10 per cent lower, he said.

Palm oil futures were closed on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday last week for the Diwali and Eid al-Fitr Festivals.

In soyaoil, December contract rose 0.06 cent to 22.73 cents in electronic trade, having closed 0.27 cent per lb lower in Chicago Board of Trade.

Soyaoil and palm oil compete for similar export destinations and their prices often move in step.

In physical dealings of crude palm oil, November contract saw bids at 1,437.50 ringgit a ton against offers at 1,442.50 in southern and central regions.

Deals were reported at 1,435 to 1,437.50 ringgit a ton for south and at 1,435 to 1,440 ringgit for central.

December (south and central) was offered at 1,442.50 ringgit ton while bids stood at 1,437.50 ringgit. There were no deals.

—Reuters