October 05, 2006	Thursday	Ramazan 11, 1427

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4: Malaysian crude palm oil futures extended losses on Wednesday, dragged down by a sharp decline in crude oil prices, traders said.

The benchmark third-month December contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange fell 20 ringgit to 1,514 ringgit ($411) a tonne after trading in a range of 1,510 and 1,523 ringgit.

Crude is the main factor, said a dealer. Demand and supply factors do not affect the market that much, unless there is a huge change. Other traded contracts were down between 21 and 25 ringgit.

Overall volume stood at 5,334 lots of 25 tonnes each. Palm oil is increasingly tracking crude oil prices because of the rapidly expanding global biofuel industry based on vegetable oils, which is seen as a cheaper alternative to fossil fuels.

Oil drifted lower towards $58 a barrel on Wednesday, taking losses for the week to more than 7 per cent, as forecasts of a further rise in US fuel stockpiles countered a call by Opec's president to cut supply.—Reuters