KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures hit fresh 3-month lows on Wednesday, reversing a brief respite in a sixth-straight day of declines during morning trading, as concerns over export demand outlook for the edible oil triggered prices to fall further.

By Wednesday’s close, benchmark palm oil for October on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had slipped 0.89 per cent to 2,112 ringgit ($554.40) a tonne.

Earlier, the contract hit 2,108 ringgit, its lowest since April 30.

“This is a continuation of the prevailing market weaknes,” said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.

“After the lunch break when the Dalian RBD palm oil didn’t move much, we took the opportunity to adjust prices and continue with the bearish movement,” the trader said referring to palm oil traded on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange.

Total traded volume on Wednesday stood at 56,574 lots of 25 tonnes each, well above the roughly 35,000 lots usually traded daily.

Recent political drama involving allegations of graft embroiling Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was not seen affecting the market, the trader said.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2015

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