KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell to their lowest in nearly three months on Thursday evening, weighed down by expectations of rising output and tracking weaker performing rival oils.

Benchmark palm oil futures for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange were down 1.3 per cent to 2,929 ringgit ($658.05) a tonne at the end of the trading day.

Earlier they hit an intraday low of 2,925 ringgit, the weakest since last November. Traded volumes stood at 70,395 lots of 25 tonnes each in the evening.

Traders said the market dipped on expectations of rising February output. “Overseas markets also weakened,” said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur, referring to rival edible oils on the Chicago Board of Trade and China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange.

Published in Dawn February 17th, 2017