KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures dropped on Thursday, snapping two sessions of gains as they tracked weaker overnight soyoil on the US Chicago Board of Trade and drew profit taking.

Palm’s losses, however, were capped by a weaker ringgit , its currency of trade. The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 1pc lower at 2,183 ringgit ($527) a tonne, its sharpest daily decline in a week.

In the previous trading session, it touched a one-week top of 2,219 ringgit on the back of a weaker ringgit. “Palm fell today tracking the weakness in external markets, but the weak ringgit capped some losses,” said a futures trader in Kuala Lumpur. The market was also dragged down by profit taking, another trader said.

A weaker ringgit makes palm oil cheaper for holders of foreign currencies.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2019