KUALA LUMPUR: Palm oil futures prices fell on Tuesday after a run of daily gains, on slowing demand and profit-taking ahead of a public holiday on Wednesday.

The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.8 per cent to 2,741 ringgit a tonne on Tuesday evening, its first fall in a week.

Earlier in the session, it fell to an intraday low of 2,738 ringgit. Traded volumes stood at 56,668 lots of 25 tonnes each at the close of trade.

“Palm is seeing some profit-taking as tomorrow is a holiday,” said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur, referring to the Hindu festival of Diwali, which is celebrated in Malaysia on Wednesday.

Another trader said slowing demand weighed on the market, and earlier said palm futures fundamentals looked bearish.

Malaysia’s palm oil stocks at end-September climbed 4pc to 2.02m tonnes from the previous month, while production in September fell 1.7pc from August to 1.78m tonnes, according to data from industry regulator Malaysian Palm Oil Board last week. Exports rose 1.8pc to 1.5 m tonnes.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2017