September 23, 2006	Saturday	Sha'aban 29, 1427

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22: Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed higher on Friday, boosted by fresh buying interest in an oversold market and higher prices of crude oil.

The benchmark third-month December contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange ended up 10 ringgit to 1,545 ringgit ($420) a ton after trading in a range of 1,536 to 1,554 ringgit.

Other traded contracts finished up between 10 and 23 ringgit. Overall volume stood at 8,832 lots of 25 tons each.

There was buying because the market suffered a big drop on Wednesday, said one dealer. The crude oil price of above $61 also supported the market. The market had declined more than 2 per cent on Wednesday tracking energy prices.

Vegetable oils like palm and soyaoil are increasingly tracking crude oil prices because of the rapidly expanding global bio fuel industry.

In the physical crude palm oil market, September shipments were quoted at 1,525/1,530 ringgit a ton. Trades were done between 1,500 and 1,530 ringgit a ton.—Reuters