June 13, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 08, 1429

SINGAPORE, June 12: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended 0.5 per cent higher on Thursday, after rising as much as 2.4 per cent in early trade, as traders took profits and shifted their focus back to bearish market fundamentals.

The benchmark August contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 17 ringgit at 3,623 ringgit ($1,106), while contracts for other months traded in a range from minus 10 ringgit to plus 25 ringgit.

Overall volumes were at 13,303 lots of 25 tons each.

The closing was rather lacklustre. There was no follow through from the morning, said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader.

August crude palm oil had climbed to as high as 3,691 ringgit during the first hour of trade, tracking a more than $5 a barrel rally in U.S. crude futures overnight and bullish US soyaoils.

Chicago Board of Trade soybean, soyameal and soyoil futurese by their daily trading limits on Wednesday, following gains in corn amid US crop and weather concerns.

We have been rising on borrowed strength from other commodities... Domestic fundamentals are still bearish and demand has not picked up, said the trader.

Malaysian palm oil products exported for June 1-10 fell 12 per cent to 360,000 tons from 409,238 tons shipped between May 1-10, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said.

Societe Generale de Surveillance, another surveyor, said palm oil shipments for the period fell 4.3 per cent to 389,300 tons.

With the drop in exports and poor local demand, Malaysia's crude palm oil stocks rose 6.9 per cent to 1,913,360 tons in May, from a revised 1,789,799 tons in April, official crop agency Malaysian Palm Oil Board said, much higher than the 0.6 per cent increase expected in a Reuters poll.—Reuters