KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures charted a decline on Wednesday evening after two sessions of gains, falling over 1 per cent tracking overnight weakness in crude oil and Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soyoil.

The benchmark palm oil contract for September delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.6pc at 1,955 ringgit ($472.79) per tonne by the close of trade. It earlier fell as much as 1.5pc to 1,938 ringgit, matching Tuesday’s intraday low that was the weakest level since August 2015.

Palm oil may retest a support at 1,944 ringgit per tonne, a break below which could cause a drop to 1,908 ringgit, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.

The market was under pressure from weaker overnight crude oil and CBOT soyoil prices, said two Kuala Lumpur-based traders.

“The absence of positive market-moving factors coupled with weakness in competing vegetable oils may cap (palm oil’s) upside momentum,” said one of the traders.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2019