KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended 0.9 per cent lower on Wednesday as weakening prices of rival soyabean oil prompted short selling, traders said.

The benchmark December contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled down 24 ringgit, or 0.9 per cent, at 2,545 ringgit ($746) a ton, after going as low as 2,530 ringgit.

Other traded months fell between 8 and 28 ringgit. Overall volume at 7,723 lots of 25 tons each was roughly half of the 12,000 lots that change hands on a routine trading day.

Palm oil, used in products ranging from cosmetics to biofuel, is 8 per cent off an historic high of 2,764 ringgit reached in June.

December soyaoil slipped below its 10 and 20-day averages in the 37.75-38.07 cent range, recovering slightly to end 1.03 cent per lb weaker at 38.60 cents a lb.

On Wednesday, the contract had fallen by nearly 1 per cent to 38.23 cents per pound.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products in September rose 11.7 per cent to 1,381,712 tons from 1,236,540 tons shipped in August, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said.

Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, said exports during the month rose 11.9pc to 1,415,266 tons.

December palm oil on Singapore’s Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange was untraded while the January 2008 contract fell slightly with only two lots traded.

In the physical market, crude palm oil for October shipment in the southern region was quoted at 2,690/2,700 ringgit a ton. Trades were done between 2,685 and 2,700 ringgit.—Reuters