KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures edged up on Tuesday evening on support from stronger overnight gains in soyoil on the US Chicago Board of Trade.

The benchmark palm oil contract for December delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.8 per cent at 2,205 ringgit ($530.69) a tonne at the close of trade. It had earlier charted two consecutive sessions of losses, and fell 1.6pc on Monday in its biggest daily decline in nearly three weeks. Trading volumes stood at 35,996 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day.

“Gains in overnight soy are likely to spill over and stoke a higher opening for the palm market,” said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader, adding the market’s upside may however be short-lived. “There will be cautiousness ahead of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board’s September report due Wednesday,” he said.

Malaysia’s palm oil stocks likely edged down in September from seven-month highs in August as shipments from the world’s No.2 exporter of the commodity outpaced production growth for the month, according to a Reuters survey. Official data will be released on Wednesday by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.

In related oils, the Chicago December soybean oil contract rose 0.8pc on Monday, in line with gains in soybeans as well as rain in parts of the US Midwest threatened to slow the harvest and reduce crop quality.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2018