JAKARTA, Oct 14: Malaysian palm oil futures finished up 0.82 per cent on Tuesday, extending a rebound from a day earlier, but off their best amid concerns that the demand outlook remains weak, traders said.

The price rebound had been mainly driven by short-covering after a rally in crude oil prices amid hopes the current financial crisis is easing, they said. The benchmark December contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 15 ringgit, or 0.82 per cent, to 1,850 ringgit a ton, coming off a high of 1,902 ringgit earlier.

Contracts of other traded months were mixed. The overall volume was 14,569 lots of 25 tons each. It is, however, still quite difficult to assess how long the rebound can be sustained, an analyst at a Jakarta-based brokerage said.

Our house had forecast a crude oil price for 2009 at $80 a barrel but apparently we may lower it after recent falls, the analyst said, adding the revision could also mean there was room for palm oil to decline.

The concern still centres on demand, such as from China and India. So I think people are still cautious, the analyst said.

In the physical market, Malaysian crude palm oil for October stood at 1,850/1,870 ringgit a ton in the southern and central regions.

Trades were done at 1,870-1,880 ringgit a ton in the southern region, and 1,860-1,890 ringgit a ton in the central region.

In Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil producer, prices were mixed.

In Jakarta, the state marketing centre, which sells palm oil from state plantations, said it sold 9,500 tons of palm oil in an auction, where the highest price obtained was 4,818 rupiah ($0.49) per kg, against 4,938 rupiah last Friday.

Producers in Medan -- home to Belawan port, Indonesia’s key port for palm oil exports -- also sold palm oil at 4,885 rupiah per kg. There was no auction on Monday or on Friday.

Meanwhile, refiners offered refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm olein, which is used in cooking oil, at 5,550-5,600 rupiah per kg, up from 5,350-5,450 per kg on Monday.—Reuters