KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell nearly 2 per cent at the close of trade on Monday after reaching a more than one-week peak, hit by concerns over high stockpiles and expectations that Indonesia would remove its palm oil export levy.

The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 1.96pc at 2,000 ringgit ($480.42) a tonne at the end of the trading day, its sharpest daily decline in a week and snapping three sessions of gains. Palm had opened higher on Monday, rising as much as 1.2pc to 2,064 ringgit, its highest since Nov 22. Trading volumes stood at 52,163 lots of 25 tonnes each at the close of trade.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2018