KUALA LUMPUR: Mala­y­sian palm oil futures fell 1 per cent on Friday evening, snapping six straight sessions of gains on cargo surveyor data that showed weak exports and as investors booked profits.

The benchmark palm oil contract for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 1pc at 2,750 ringgit ($643.80) at the end of the trading day, its sharpest intraday drop since Aug 15. Palm had gained 5.3pc in the previous six sessions, hitting a five-month high on Thursday, on expectations that production growth will be slower than earlier forecasts.

Traded volumes stood at 51,050 lots of 25 tonnes each on Friday evening. “The market is seeing profit-taking for the weekend on the back of weak exports,” said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur, referring to data from cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services.

Palm oil shipments from Malaysia fell 8.1pc on month during Aug 1 to 25. Cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance showed a similar decline in export data, with an 8.4pc drop in the same time period.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2017