KUALA LUMPUR, March 21: Malaysian palm oil futures ended slightly down on Wednesday, though the market had a firm tone, supported by gains in rival soyabean oil, dealers said.

The benchmark third-month June contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 2 ringgit to 1,975 ringgit ($569) per ton by the end of trade.

The market is back on profit taking with a firm backing from the soyaoil trade, said one dealer. The market is trading in a broad range and is looking to cross the 2,000 ringgit level in the next couple of days. Other traded months ranged from down six ringgit to up 8 ringgit up in overall volume of 8,754 lots of 25 tons each.

The market rose 1.2 per cent on Monday on hopes of better exports and it is off an eight-year high of 2,062 ringgit reached in December when floods disrupted deliveries.

Palm oil often tracks the soyabean market because both areused in products ranging from food and cosmetics to biodiesel.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for March 1-20 rose 0.8 per cent to 617,142 tons from 612,057 tons shipped between February 1-20, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said.

Palm oil prices are set to jump more than 20 per cent by year-end as global oilseed stocks get depleted and demand from the food and fuel sectors surges, industry officials said at a price outlook conference in the Malaysian last week.—Reuters