KUALA LUMPUR, March 9: Malaysian palm oil returned to negative territory at Thursday’s close as players who bought early sold on a lack of inspiration ahead of key industry data due on Friday.

The benchmark third-month May crude palm oil futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives fell for an eighth straight day, losing 0.34 per cent, or 5 ringgit, to close at the day’s low of 1,464 ringgit ($393.53) a ton.

Palm oil has seen a steady slide since touching an 11-month high of 1,512 ringgit on Feb. 27.

A Reuters poll of analysts at five plantation houses in Malaysia showed on Thursday that physical stocks of palm oil were expected to have fallen only 3.3 pc by the end of February from a month earlier, versus previous estimates of an 8.1 pc drop.

The broader futures market ended up 2 ringgit to down 5 on Thursday. Trades totalled 6,958 lots of 25 tons each, against Wednesday’s volume of 4,213 lots.

In physical trade of crude palm oil, buyers/sellers for March stood at 1,445/1,450 ringgit a ton in Malaysia’s southern and central regions. Trades were done from 1,450 to 1,440 ringgit. —Reuters