KUALA LUMPUR, March 21: Malaysia’s palm oil futures drifted at the close on Thursday with uncertainties in China’s import quotas and India’s lack of buying interest putting pressure on fundamentals, traders and analysts said.

The new benchmark third-month June contract was last traded at 1,168 ringgit ($307.37) a ton, down four ringgit, after trading as high as 1,170 ringgit.

Volume was moderate at 1,049 lots. One technical analyst pegged immediate resistance at 1,177-1,195 ringgit and said the downside pressure would increase if the market failed to break the next resistance of 1,204 ringgit next week.

I advise those who are short at 1,190 ringgit to wait and see. You should get worried only if the market breaks 1,204 ringgit next week, said Jennifer Ooi, analyst from one of the futures brokerage houses in Kuala Lumpur.—Reuters