KUALA LUMPUR, June 1: Malaysian crude palm oil futures fell on Thursday, weighed down by softer US soyaoil, as dealers said lingering concerns of weak exports for May could keep pressuring the market.

The benchmark third-month August contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange closed down five ringgit at 1,439 ringgit a ton ($396.4) after trading as high as 1,446 ringgit.

The market came down, more on the Chicago, said one dealer, referring to Chicago’s electronic trade in soyaoil futures.

In Thursday’s electronic trading during Asian hours, soyaoil fell on CBOT, with the key July contract down 0.16 cents at 25.00 by 1059 GMT.

Soyaoil and palm oil compete for exports and their prices often move in step.

Other traded contracts were down one to seven ringgit. Overall volume stood at 6,324 lots of 25 tons each, against Wednesday’s 8,677 lots.

One dealer said, 1.6 million is very much possible.

Dealers saw immediate resistance at 1,440 ringgit and support at 1,430 ringgit in the coming days.

A Reuters poll last Tuesday showed palm oil stocks in Malaysia are expected to have risen 5.3 per cent in May at 1.590 million tons from 1,510,048 tons a month earlier because of lower exports.—Reuters