KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose by more than 1 per cent on Friday, tracking strength in related edible oils on the US Chicago Board of Trade and China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange.

The benchmark palm oil contract for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was 0.7pc up at 2,238 ringgit ($545.19) a tonne at the close of trade. It earlier rose as much as 1.3pc to 2,250 ringgit, its highest since August 10. The gains, however, were not quite enough to avoid a 0.2pc decline for the week. Trading volumes stood at 37,337 lots of 25 tonnes each on Friday evening.

“External markets are bullish. Overnight it (soyoil) went up, impacting palm,” said a Singapore-based trader. Palm oil prices are affected by movements of other edible oils that compete in the global vegetable oils market.

Chicago soyoil rose in tandem with soybeans, which hit a one-week high on Thursday on support from expectations that China could return to the US market. The Chicago December soybean oil contract rose 1pc on Thursday and was last up 0.5pc on Friday.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2018