KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Friday evening, marking a second session of gains in five, buoyed by stronger crude oil prices and a weaker ringgit .

Losses in the ringgit, palm’s currency of trade, supported the edible oil by making it cheaper for holders of foreign currencies.

The ringgit weakened 0.3 per cent to 4.1155 against the dollar on Friday evening, falling from the more than one-year high reached in the previous session.

The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 0.8pc to 2,630 ringgit a tonne by the close of trade but was down 3.1p on the week, its sharpest weekly decline in two months.

Traded volumes stood at 32,966 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day. “Palm rose from strength on the energy front and as the ringgit weakened from its recent high”.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2017