KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures edged higher on Friday after two straight sessions of declines, tracking overnight gains in overseas markets and on cargo surveyor data showing strong exports.

The benchmark palm oil contract for January delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.7 per cent at 2,741 ringgit ($648.91) a tonne at the end of Friday, after declining 0.7 per cent on Thursday.

The contract has shed about 0.3 per cent so far this week after two straight weeks of gains. Traded volumes stood at 38,078 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of Friday.

The December soybean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) gained 0.5 per cent. The January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained 0.2 per cent, while the January palm olein contract rose 0.9 per cent.

Palm prices are impacted by movements of related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2017