KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures edged down on Friday, reversing early gains to record their biggest monthly drop since March, but losses were limited by a weaker ringgit and data showing Malaysian exports fell less than expected this month.

By Friday’s close, the benchmark palm oil contract for October was down 0.19 per cent at 2,118 ringgit ($554.02) a tonne on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange.

On Thursday, the contract hit its lowest level since April 30, at 2,099 ringgit.

Palm prices are down around 2.7pc this week and have slipped 4.9pc in July, their biggest monthly decline since March when they fell more than 6pc.

On Friday, traded volume stood at 34,052 lots of 25 tonnes each, below the roughly 35,000 lots usually traded daily.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty,” said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. “Supply and demand factors are slightly bearish but the ringgit today weakened (and) that is friendly.”

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2015

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