Crude  palm oil (CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed higher today as investors took the cue from higher soyaoil prices despite weaker palm oil exports data, dealers said.

They said that soyaoil prices on China’s Dalian Commodities Exchange traded higher, backed by improved performance in the stock markets.

“Higher soyoil prices provided some support to the CPO market. Investors have factored in the weaker palm oil export data for the August 1-20 period,” one of the dealers said.

According to cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance, Malaysian palm oil exports for August 1-20 dropped seven per cent to 814,403 tonnes from 875,330 tonnes recorded in the same period last month.

Another cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services reported that Malaysian palm oil exports for the first 20 days of this month fell 10.7 per cent to 815,208 tonnes from 913,153 tonnes in the same period last month.

At close, the CPO futures for September 2009 rose RM4 to RM2,340 per tonne, October 2009 increased RM18 to RM2,338 per tonne, November 2009 added RM2 to RM2,301 per tonne and December 2009 gained RM26 to RM2,299 per tonne.

Volume, however, declined to 24,575 lots from 33,290 lots on Wednesday while open interest increased to 89,473 contracts from 83,531 contracts previously.

On the physical market, August South declined to RM2,380 per tonne from RM2,400 per tonne on Wednesday.

Source : Business Times