KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24: Malaysian palm oil closed down half a per cent on Monday, prolonging a weak trend from last week, after fresh losses in rival US soyaoil. Trade was also light, with players disinclined to commit heavily ahead of next week’s long holidays, dealers said.

Except for Tuesday, the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, which trades in crude palm oil futures, will be closed the whole of next week as Malaysia celebrates the Diwali and Eid al-Fitr festivals.

If you look at the level of open interest, you can see it’s falling everyday as people are trying to get out before the holidays, said a dealer.

Open interest — or liquidity — in Bursa’s crude palm oil futures dwindled to 25,559 lots at Monday’s open, compared with Friday’s 26,060 lots.

Market participants were also cautious about taking major positions ahead of Tuesday’s export numbers for Oct. 1 to 25.

Two cargo surveyors watched by the market — Societe Generale de Surveillance and Intertek Testing Services — will release on Tuesday estimates of Malaysian palm oil shipments for the first 25 days of October versus Sept. 1 to 25.

Both have consistently estimated a thinner growth in shipments over the last fortnight compared with the first 10 days of October. Dealers expect the trend to continue.

At Monday’s close, Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark third-month January contract was down 8 ringgit at 1,410 ringgit ($374) a ton.

It had fallen as much as 11 ringgit earlier to touch an intraday low of 1,407 ringgit.

The broader futures market was down 6 to 10 ringgit.

Overall market volume stood at 3,457 lots of 25 tons each, versus Friday morning’s 5,872 lots.

Dealers said the market was weighed down by the extended weakness in soyaoil on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).

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

CBOT soyaoil for December ended down 0.50 cent at 23.48 cents a lb on Friday. It fell another 0.35 cent in Friday’s electronic trade, conducted during Asian business hours.

Prices of physical Malaysian crude palm oil were also down on Monday, taking their cue from futures. Offers for October delivery were priced at 1,420 ringgit, against bids at 1,415. Offers/bids closed at 1,427.50/1,422.50 on Friday.

Monday’s trades were reported at 1,420-1,415 ringgit.

—Reuters