January 10, 2006	Tuesday	Zilhaj 9, 1426

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9: Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed lower on Monday in thin pre-holiday trade, weighed down by weakness in rival soyaoil.

Players were largely sidelined ahead of Wednesday’s release of official palm oil production, exports and stocks figures for December as well as export estimates for Jan. 1-10 from two cargo surveyors.

Bursa Malaysia Derivatives’ benchmark third-month crude palm oil contract, March, ended down 10 ringgit at 1,423 ringgit ($379.57) a ton.

Other traded contracts were down 8 to 10 ringgit.

Volume stood at 2,342 lots of 25 tons each, down from Friday’s 2,969 lots. The market can easily surpass 6,000 lots on a busy day.

The January and March contracts fell another 0.44 cent and 0.19 cents, respectively, in Monday’s electronic trade, done during Asian hours.

In Monday’s physical market for crude palm oil, offers/bids for January stood at 1,415/1,412.50 ringgit a ton. Trades were done at 1,415-1,412.50 ringgit.—Reuters