KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose to a seven-week high on Thursday evening, tracking gains in US soyoil and supported by a weaker ringgit. Palm oil prices typically rise on a weaker ringgit, its currency of trade, because it makes the edible oil cheaper for foreign buyers. The ringgit weakened as much as 0.2 per cent against the dollar before closing the day with a 0.03pc gain at 3.9790.

The palm oil contract for August delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.8pc at 2,492 ringgit ($626.29) a tonne at the end of the trading day. It earlier climbed to 2,498 ringgit, matching the intraday high of April 9. Palm is also up 1.7pc for the week so far, in line for a third straight week of gains. Trading volume stood at 41,918 lots of 25 tonnes each at the close.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2018