KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Friday, weighed down by a stronger ringgit and mild profit taking.

The benchmark palm oil contract for October delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed down 0.8 per cent at 2,655 ringgit ($620), its sharpest daily fall in two weeks. Palm rose for three consecutive sessions through Thursday, when it hit a two-month high, and gained 3.2pc for the week.

Traded volumes totalled 41,426 lots of 25 tonnes each.

“The market fell on a stronger ringgit, which saw quite a sharp increase yesterday,” said a futures trader in Kuala Lumpur. “There’s also some profit taking after the recent sharp rally (in palm prices) and weakness in the soybean oil market also contributed to palm’s decline today.”

The ringgit, the currency of trade for the tropical oil, has gained 0.3pc this month, and surged to its strongest in a month against the dollar on Thursday. It was down 0.1pc at 4.2795 per dollar on Friday evening.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2017