May 26, 2006	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 27, 1427

KUALA LUMPUR, May 25: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended almost unchanged on Thursday, after late profit-taking erased earlier gains that were fuelled by better-than-expected export numbers.

Exports of Malaysian oil palm products for May 1-25 fell 12.8 per cent to 855,297 tons from the same period a month ago, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said earlier in the day.

The SGS figures were actually slightly higher than expected, one trader said.

Also helping were the weak ringgit and the fact that the market had been oversold in the last five to six days.

The benchmark third-month August contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended down one ringgit at 1,437 ringgit ($395) a ton, off a low of 1,434 ringgit on volume of 3,079 lots.

June was up two ringgit at 1,420 ringgit.

Overall volume stood at 5,328 lots of 25 tons each.

Earlier in the day, another cargo surveyor, Intertek Testing Services said exports of Malaysian oil palm products for May 1-25 fell 16.6 per cent to 847,835 tons from the same period last month, weaker than market expectations.

In Asian trade on Thursday, the July soyaoil contract traded down 0.13 US cent per lb at 24.95 cents, compared with its US close of 25.08 cents.

A weaker ringgit makes Malaysian palm oil more affordable to foreign buyers and tends to support the futures price.

The Malaysian currency has lost ground in the past week as the dollar has gained.

In physicals, the May crude palm oil saw offers at 1,395 ringgit in the southern region against bids of 1,390. In the central region, May CPO was bid at 1,385 ringgit against offers of 1,390.

Trades were seen at 1,390-1,392.50 in both regions.

June CPO saw bids and offers at 1,415-1,420 ringgit respectively for both southern and central regions.

Malaysian palm oil trades were done between 1,400 and 1,415 on Thursday closing.—Reuters