KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 16: Malaysian crude palm oil futures recouped early losses to end marginally higher on Thursday as players took the market a step closer to the long-defended resistance of 1,500 ringgit a ton. The new third-month crude palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, May, ended up a mere ringgit at 1,489 ringgit ($400.27) a ton.

It hit a high of 1,492 ringgit in the afternoon, after recovering from morning low of 1,482. Other traded months closed up one to three ringgit . The traded volume also rose, to 5,849 lots of 25 tons each from Wednesday’s 4,712 lots.

The outlook for palm oil has brightened after exports of the commodity begun recovering last week from a long holiday between end-January to early-February. March soyaoil ended 0.23 cent a lb up at 22.27 cents in regular CBOT trade. In Thursday’s volatile e-CBOT trade, conducted during Asian hours, it rose another 0.02 cent.

In physical trade of crude palm oil, February quotes stood at 1,465/1,470 ringgit a ton in Malaysia’s southern and central regions. Trades closed at 1,460 ringgit in both regions. —Reuters