KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures ended higher on Wednesday, reversing losses from the early session as a round of technical buying and short covering underpinned it, although a drop in crude oil prices and a stronger ringgit limited gains.

The benchmark February contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had inched up 1 per cent to 2,239 ringgit ($668) per tonne by the day’s close, recovering from a decline of as much as 0.5pc in early trade.

Total traded volume stood at 49,731 lots of 25 tonnes, above the usual 35,000 lots.

“Prices could not close below 2,190 ringgit in yesterday’s trade so it pulled up. After testing that support level, prices should move higher to test the resistance between 2,280-2,300 ringgit,” said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. “Fundamentally, there’s no real push - it’s all technical.”

Published in Dawn, November 27th , 2014