KUALA LUMPUR, March 23: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended up on Thursday on light covering activity despite softer prices of rival US soyoil. Dealers said a clearer trend was likely to emerge next week after export estimates from cargo surveyors for March 1-25.

The benchmark third-month June contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed up four ringgit at 1,451 ringgit ($393.22) a ton.

Other traded months ended down one ringgit to up four ringgit.

Volume stood at 4,752 lots of 25 tons each, a little thinner than Wednesday’s 5,687 lots. The market typically sees 6,000 lots or more on a busy day.

“Everyone is waiting for the export numbers to decide where the market is to go,” said a trader. “That’s the only real lead for now.”

Slack demand from key Asian importers and a strengthening currency has hit palm oil prices lately.

But data showing a pick up in exports over the last week has lent some support to the market.

Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS), one of the two cargo surveyors watched by the industry, said on Monday Malaysia’s palm oil exports for March 1-20 stood at 708,345 tons, down 4.8 percent from the 744,152 tons it had tracked for Feb. 1-20.

SGS had estimated a sharper fall of 6.8 percent for March 1-15 exports, versus Feb. 1-15. Its next estimate for March 1-25 is due on Monday.—Reuters