KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures ended higher on Friday on concerns over monsoon rains hurting output and as crude prices ticked up, but the recovery was not enough to keep palm from its biggest weekly fall in three.

Brent crude oil rose above $60 a barrel on Friday, recovering from near a 5-1/2-year low as investors squared books ahead of the year-end festive break after six months of falling prices.

The benchmark March contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had edged up 0.2 percent to 2,153 ringgit ($620) per tonne by Friday’s close, pulling up from an intraday low of 2,127 ringgit.

Total traded volume stood at 39,350 lots of 25 tonnes, above the daily average of 35,000 lots.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2014