KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell for a fourth straight day on Friday, weighed down by a stronger ringgit and concerns over slow exports.

A stronger ringgit makes the edible oil more expensive for foreign buyers and curbs demand. The ringgit climbed to 3.9360 to the dollar late on Friday, its highest since May 2016.

The benchmark palm oil contract for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange touched a low of 2,433 ringgit ($618.14) per tonne - the lowest since Dec 22 - before ending down 1.25 per cent at 2,445 ringgit ($621.19) at the close of trade.

Palm oil was down over 3pc for the week, its second weekly decline. Trading volumes stood at 39,494 lots of 25 tonnes each.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2018