KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose more than 2 per cent on Thursday as traders moved to cover short positions. The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 2.5pc at 2,057 ringgit ($490.46) a tonne. The futures contract rose as much as 3.6pc in the afternoon to a two-week high, with trading volumes reaching 57,485 lots of 25 tonnes each by the close.

One Kuala Lumpur-based trader said there was further short-covering in the second half of the session after concerns over high inventories had earlier pared back gains made on an overnight recovery in crude oil prices. Palm oil prices are influenced by movements in crude oil because the edible oil is used as feedstock for biodiesel.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2018