JAKARTA, Oct 17: Malaysian palm oil futures gave up gains of more than 3 per cent to finish lower on Friday, unsettled by fears that a global recession will cut demand, traders said.

The benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed down 16 ringgit, or 0.97 per cent, to 1,635 ringgit ($463) a ton.

The contract, which hit a high of 1,705 ringgit earlier and a low of 1,620 ringgit, touched a 2-year low of 1,593 ringgit a ton on Thursday. Contracts of other traded months were mostly lower, losing between 3 ringgit to 20 ringgit. The overall volume stood at 10,894 lots of 25 tons each.—Reuters