KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures edged down after hitting a one week-high in early trade on Thursday, undergoing a technical correction after strong gains in the previous session and on sluggish demand.

The benchmark palm oil contract for October delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose to its highest in a week at 2,220 ringgit ($547.20) a tonne in the morning before falling 0.8 per cent to 2,193 ringgit at the end of the trading day. Trading volume stood at 47,045 lots of 25 tonnes each at the close of trade.

“The market is coming back to its senses after yesterday’s jump. Exports are also expected to be unchanged for the first 20 days,” said a Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader, referring to shipment data for the July 1-20 period, scheduled for release on Friday. “Meanwhile production is forecast to rise.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2018