JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil subsided further on Friday, falling for an eighth-consecutive session to its low­e­st in more than five years as soybean and crude prices weighed on the market.

The benchmark Nov contract on the Bursa Mala­ysia Derivatives Exchange fell to 1,989 ringgit ($629) a tonne in afternoon trading, its lowest level since July 2009.

By Friday’s close, the contract had fallen 1.9 per cent to 2,000 ringgit, down 4.4pc for the week in its third consecutive week of declines. Total traded volume on Friday stood at 47,789 lots of 25 tonnes, above the average 35,000 lots.

The US soyoil contract for December edged down 0.3pc in Asian trade, while the most active September soybean oil contract on the Da­lian Commodities Exch­ange rose 0.17pc.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2014