JAKARTA, Nov 14: Malaysian palm futures closed lower on Friday on faltering crude oil, but speculation in the market of stronger export data limited the downside, traders said.

The benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 25 ringgit, or 1.69 per cent lower, at 1,455 ringgit ($404) per ton.

Other traded contracts were mostly lower, falling between 3 ringgit and 22 ringgit. The overall volume stood at 9,812 lots of 25 tons each.

A trader at a Malaysian commodities brokerage said that there had been speculation about good exports for Nov. 1-15 in a range of about 600,000 to 630,000 tons, higher than around 550,000 a month ago.

Cargo surveyors are expected to announce their estimate for the Nov. 1-15 exports of palm oil products on Monday.

The same trader said he believed market sentiment was still fragile and a downtrend probably far from over.

Palm hasn’t gone down much compared to crude oil recently because soybean oil is holding well, the trader said.

In physical trade, Malaysian palm oil for November deliveries were traded 1,420-1,440 per ton in the southern region and 1,410-1,430 ringgit a ton in the central region.

In Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil producer, the state marketing centre said it had sold 7,000 tons of crude palm oil at a top price of 4,847 rupiah ($0.42) per kg.

Producers in Medan — home to Belawan port, Indonesia’s key port for palm oil exports -- did not sell palm oil on Friday. On Thursday, it sold at 4,732-4,759 rupiah ($0.411-$0.413) per kg.

Meanwhile, refiners in Jakarta sold refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm olein, which is used in cooking oil, at about 5,600 rupiah per kg, down from 5,750 rupiah on Thursday.—Reuters