August 08, 2007	Wednesday	Rajab 23, 1428

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7: Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed marginally lower on Tuesday as speculative buying helped the market to cut losses suffered during the morning session.

Traders said heavy buying by a top Singapore edible oil firm prompted players to start taken new positions but fears that demand might not keep up with the seasonal increase in production kept a lid on the gains.

The benchmark October contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange finished down 2 ringgit to 2,478 ringgit ($715) per ton, after it plunged 2.7 per cent in the morning session to 2,414 ringgit.

It's speculative buying now, a leading trader said. Big players were waiting for the prices to go lower and once that happened, they started buying and everyone joined in.

But the fundamentals of supplies overwhelming exports will always spoil the mood. Other traded months fell between 3 and 80 ringgit. Overall trade nearly doubled to 22,007 lots of 25 tons each from around 12,000 lots that usually change hands on a routine day.

Palm oil, used in products ranging from confectioneries and cosmetics to biofuels, is around 10 per cent off an historic high of 2,764 ringgit reached in early June.

Buying for the holy month of Ramazan has been subdued from South Asia and the Middle East while China has cut down imports as it focuses on soyabeans, traders said. October palm oil on Singapore's Joint Asian.

In the physical market, crude palm oil for August shipment in Malaysia's southern and central regions was quoted at 2,525/2,545 ringgit a ton. Deals were done at 2,540 and 2,545 ringgit.—Reuters