January 7, 2006	Saturday	Zilhaj 6, 1426

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6: Malaysian crude palm oil futures surrendered earlier gains to close lower on Friday, weighed down by the ringgit’s strength against the dollar.

A rebound in rival soyaoil had supported palm oil prices earlier.

Overall volume was thin at 2,969 lots of 25 tons, down from Thursday’s 4,726 lots.

The ringgit rose to about 3.7510 against the dollar on Friday, its strongest level since mid-August.

While palm oil futures hit a two-month high on Wednesday, the fundamentals were far from bright, dealers said.

Players will know by Wednesday how accurate those estimates are, when the Malaysian Palm Oil Board releases official production, exports and stocks numbers for December.

Cargo surveyors will also be estimating January’s exports from next week.

In Friday’s physical market for crude palm oil, offers/bids for January stood at 1425/1420 ringgit a ton. Trades were done at 1417.50-1420 ringgit.—Reuters