BANGKOK, Sept 12: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended mixed in thin, cautious trade on Tuesday ahead of the release of USDA crop report due later in the day.

The benchmark third-month November contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange in Kuala Lumpur was down one ringgit at 1,538 ringgit a ton ($418.7) after trading between 1,535 ringgit and 1.548 ringgit.

Other traded contracts were either down one to four ringgit or up one to three ringgit . Overall volume was 7,568 lots, versus Monday's 13,024 lots of 25 tons each.

Today, the market is a mixed market, morning's down, afternoon's up and closed marginally lower, a Malaysian dealer in Kuala Lumpur said.

It was on uncertainty because all the bearish news was factored in the prices already. This afternoon, there was no new news to guide the market. Dealers said players were cautious before the USDA released its crop report.

You got a USDA report coming out tonight, so I think a lot of people prefer to wait and see before they move into the market again, a dealer said.

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

US analysts anticipate that the USDA will raise its US soya crop estimate of 2.928 billion bushels to a 3.0 billion to 3.2 billion range.—Reuters