KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rebounded from a one-week low on Friday, tracking rises in crude oil prices.

The market earlier fell on concerns of oversupply and overnight soyaoil weakness on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.4 per cent to 2,171 ringgit ($530.29) a tonne at the close of trade. It earlier fell to 2,146 ringgit, its lowest since Jan 4, but traded flat for the week.

The trading volume stood at 22,365 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day.

“Palm oil prices rose on crude oil’s gains,” said a Kuala Lumpur based trader.

Palm oil prices are impacted by movements in crude oil, as it is used as feedstock to make biodiesel.

The Chicago March soybean oil contract fell 1.4pc on Thursday, but was last up 0.5pc on Friday.

In other related oils, the March soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.5pc, and the Dalian January palm oil contract rose 0.4pc.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2019