KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26: Short covering helped Malaysian palm oil rebound on Friday from two straight days of losses, but gains were limited by weak US soyaoil prices and a general lack of positive leads.

The third-month crude palm oil futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, November, ended up one ringgit at 1,366 ringgit ($362.82) a ton, off an intraday high of 1,368.

It had lost 28 ringgit over the last two days on liquidation of long positions, and selling by those fearing more competition from Indonesian palm products as the rupiah weakened.

Trade volumes were thin, totalling just 2,712 lots of 25 tons each. The market usually sees a transaction of 6,000 lots or more on a busy day.

People are waiting to see what the export numbers for the whole of August are like, to decide where to take the market to, said a dealer. That’s why no one’s doing anything other than some covering.

Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS), the leading tracker of Malaysian palm oil shipments, disappointed the market on Thursday by estimating a rise of just 10 per cent for August 1 to 25 exports, versus July 1 to 25.

SGS had been more optimistic about exports in earlier weeks, estimating a 12 per cent rise for Aug. 1 to 20, 17 per cent for Aug. 1 to 15, and 19 per cent for Aug. 1 to 10.

The cargo surveyor’s estimate for the whole of August is due on Thursday.

But with rains and change in wind direction having scattered the pollution — and an international firefighting team ready to douse new hotspots that show up on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra — impact on Malaysia’s production has been limited.

The official Malaysian Palm Oil Board will issue official production, export and stock numbers for August on Sept. 12.

Soyaoil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade remained soft in Friday’s electronic trade after closing down on Thursday, with deliveries for September through March showing losses of 0.01 to 0.44 cents per lb.

Soyaoil and palm oil compete for exports and their prices often move in step.

In physical dealings of crude palm oil on Friday, delivery for September was offered at 1,365 ringgit a ton and bid at 1,355 in the southern and central regions of Malaysia.

Trades were reported at 1,350-1,355 ringgit. —Reuters