KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rebounded during the afternoon session on Friday as a weaker ringgit aided demand while traders cover their position ahead of a long weekend.

Benchmark palm oil futures for December on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed up 0.7 per cent at 2,634 ringgit ($637.46) a tonne.

It rebounded after hitting a low of 2,603 ringgit earlier in the session. Traded volumes stood at 39,722 lots of 25 tonnes each for the day.

“The weaker Malaysian ringgit and short-covering were the main contributors,” said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader.

Bursa Malaysia will be closed for a public holiday on Monday. The ringgit, in which the benchmark is priced, weakened by 0.24pc against the dollar on Friday, making the vegetable oil more attractive to foreign buyers.

Palm posted a weekly loss of 1.6pc as supply is seen increasing, while concerns over the demand from top buyers still lingered.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2016