November 29, 2006	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 7, 1427

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28: Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed lower on Tuesday, as players took profit after a strong rally and prices of rival soyaoil declined.

The benchmark February contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivative exchange finished down 23 ringgit at 1,898 ringgit ($522) a ton after touching a high of 1,935 ringgit.

The market was heavily overbought, it gave up some of the gains mainly because of profit-taking and soybean oil, one dealer said.

The market has gained almost 13 percent this month, boosted by higher soyaoil prices and forecast of strong demand for vegetable oil-based biodiesel in the coming months.

The benchmark contract hit a high of 1,976 ringgit on Monday, the highest in more than 2 1/2 years. Other traded months closed down between 20 and 35 ringgit. Overall volume stood at 18,309 lots of 25 tons each.

But the December contract was down 0.14 cents to 28.97 cents per lb by 1038 GMT in electronic trade on Tuesday.

Malaysia's palm oil output is expected to decline in coming months because of widespread rains during the monsoon that started this month.

In the physical palm oil market, December shipments were quoted at 1,860/1,875 ringgit a ton. Trades were done between 1,865 and 1,900 ringgit a ton.

—Reuters