KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29: Malaysian crude palm futures jumped nearly 2 per cent on Thursday, rebounding from more than a one-week low as surging crude and soyaoil markets during Asian hours encouraged investors to cover shorts.

Palm oil, used in products ranging from chocolates and lipstick to biofuel, is just 2.5 per cent off a record high of 3,068 ringgit struck on Monday.

The benchmark February contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 57 ringgit to 2,990 ringgit ($888) per ton, after going as high as 3,001 ringgit.

Once again, crude oil is flying up, bringing soyaoil and palm oil for the ride, said a dealer with a foreign commodities firm. Fundamentals are getting shelved for the moment. Other traded months rose between 47 and 63 ringgit.

Overall trade stood at 9,037 lots of 25 tons each. Crude oil markets increasingly influence prices of vegetable oils such as soyaoil and palm because of rising use of these edible oils in the production of biofuels.

Oil surged more than $3 a barrel on Thursday after an explosion on a major pipeline cut crude oil imports to the United States by nearly a fifth.

December soyoil was down 0.17 at 46.13 cents a pound. But in Asian trade the contract soared by more than 1 per cent.

Refined palm oil futures in China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange bucked the trend of following Malaysian crude palm oil futures on Thursday with the most active May contract slipping nearly 0.8 per cent to 8,522 yuan ($1,154) a ton.

In Malaysia’s physical market, crude palm oil for November and December shipments in the southern region was quoted at 2,985/2,995 ringgit a ton. Trades were done between 2,975 and 2,990 ringgit.—Reuters