KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended 0.9 per cent lower on Wednesday as concerns over rising supplies and a sharp decline in global markets pressured prices.

Traders said heavy selling by a top Singapore edible oil trading firm also weighed on the market.

The benchmark October contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled down 23 ringgit, or 0.9 per cent, to 2,585 ringgit ($745) per ton, after hitting a low of 2,568 ringgit.

Most major palm oil plantations in Malaysia have reported good increases in production,” a leading trader said. There is a lot of oil in the market and players are getting worried. Stock markets around the world are falling and this has pulled down the palm oil market, said another trader.

Other traded months fell between 16 and 31 ringgit in overall trade of 9,844 lots of 25 tons each.

World stock markets fell sharply on Wednesday and currency markets churned as casualties mounted from worsening credit markets and investors scrambled away from riskier assets.

European shares were down more than 2 per cent, following similar losses in Japan and a 4 per cent tumble in the rest of Asia. MSCI's main world equity index lost 1.4 per cent and is now down around 6.5 per cent in a week and a half.

Palm oil, used in products ranging from confectionaries and cosmetics to biofuel, is more than 6 per cent off an historic high of 2,764 ringgit reached in early June.

October palm oil on Singapore's Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange was untraded by 1051 GMT.

In the physical market, crude palm oil for August shipment in Malaysia's southern and central regions were quoted at 2,685/2,700 ringgit a ton. Deals were done at 2,720/2,740 ringgit.—Reuters