JAKARTA, Dec 2: Malaysian palm futures ended down more than 1 per cent on Tuesday, depressed by weak crude oil, although they were off their lows on expectations holiday demand may reduce stocks, traders said.

Demand for the year-end holidays and from key buyers in China and Europe is expected to offer support for the price of palm oil, which is down nearly two-thirds from a record high of 4,486 ringgit a ton in March.

The benchmark February palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia’s Derivatives Exchange settled down 25 ringgit, or 1.54 per cent, after falling 4.17 per cent to a low of 1,560 a ton earlier in the session.

Other traded contracts fell between 8 ringgit and 40 ringgit. The overall volume was 9,022 lots of 25 tons each.

Market players are also awaiting further direction from a slew of key palm oil data to be issued by Malaysian Palm Oil Board after the Eid-ul- Azha holiday next week and price outlooks from a palm oil conference in Indonesia’s Bali island this week, traders said.

The market is likely to stay within a narrow range of 1,550-1,600 ringgit levels, a leading trader said, adding exports in December should range between 1.2-1.3 million tons, the same level as in November.

But weak crude oil is likely to cap gains in prices.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Monday exports of Malaysian palm oil products for November rose 0.8 per cent to 1,328,748 tons, from 1,318,196 tons shipped in October.

Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, said exports of Malaysian palm oil products for November rose 5.2 per cent to 1,343,802 tons, from 1,277,326 tons shipped in October.

In Indonesia, the world’s largest palm producer, the state marketing centre in Jakarta sold crude palm oil at 5,818 rupiah ($0.475) a kg on Tuesday, down from 5,915 rupiah a kg on Friday.

The centre which sold crude palm oil from state plantation did not sell any palm oil at Monday’s auction due to low bids.

Producers in Medan did not hold any palm oil auction on Monday.—Reuters