November 03, 2006	Friday	Shawwal 10, 1427

BANGKOK, Nov 2: Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose on Thursday, boosted by higher prices of rival soyaoil and expectations of strong exports, dealers said. The benchmark January contract contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange ended up 44 ringgit at 1,724 ringgit a ton ($472.6) after trading in a wide range of between 1,696 and 1,736 ringgit.

The market was up on expectations of good exports, low production, lower stocks and the Chicago bean and bean oil rally. These were the major factors, a Malaysian dealer in Kuala Lumpur said.

Overall volume was 24,681 lots of 25 tons each against Wednesday's 14,978 lots.

In Thursday's electronic trading during Asian hours, soyaoil on the Chicago Board of Trade was up, with the key December contract up 0.18 cent to 27.65 cents at 1041 GMT.

Down the road, three to six months, local demand should be stronger. We are going to have additional demand from the energy sector, another dealer said.

Malaysia plans to sell palm-blended diesel at domestic pumps by the end of this year and, along with Indonesia, has set aside 40 per cent of palm oil output for bio diesel production.

Malaysian dealers expect the market to move higher in a wide range of 1,700 ringgit and 1,750 ringgit on Friday.—Reuters