July 11, 2006	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 14, 1427

KUALA LUMPUR, July 10: Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed marginally lower on Monday after the Malaysian Palm Oil Board data showed higher closing stocks in June.

Export data for July 1 to 10 period issued by cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) also disappointed the market.

The third-month September contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended down three ringgit to 1,509 ringgit ($414) a ton.

Other contracts were down between one and seven ringgit.

Overall volumes stood at 5,246 lots of 25 tons each. Stocks of palm oil at the close of last month totalled 1,645,839 tons, up 4.60 per cent from end-May because of lower exports, MPOB, also the industry’s regulator, said in a statement.

Exports for June totalled 1,100,448 tons, down 6.02 per cent from May, it said.

Stock are still very high and there is no significant improvement in exports this month, one dealer said.

Strong demand from China and Europe had propelled the market last week to break the key resistance level of 1,500 ringgit.

In the physical palm oil market, traders were offering crude palm oil for July shipment at 1,445 ringgit a ton, with bids seen at 1,440.—Reuters