Crude palm oil (CPO) futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives are likely to
consolidate next week after hitting a three-and-a-half-week low this
week on weak fundamentals.
“The CPO market is currently volatile and perhaps it could see some
mild consolidation next week,” Interband Group Senior Palm Oil Trader
Jim Teh said.
He said that based on the current bearish trend, prices could fall
further to around RM2,350 and RM2,400 per tonne.
Lingering concerns over the European debt crisis and tighthening of
China’s monetary policy could dampen the fragile recovery and curb
demand for commodities, he said.
“All these worries have affected the behaviour of commodities buyers,
especially on our CPO market who are mostly international buyers,” he
added.
Most buyers also adopted a wait-and-see attitute ahead of the palm
oil export numbers for the first 15 days of May, which are due for
release by cargo surveyors next Monday.
On Friday-to-Friday basis, the May 2010 contract went down by RM46
to RM2,512 per tonne while June 2010 slipped RM64 to RM2,470 per tonne,
July 2010 contract declined RM63 to RM2,456 per tonne and August 2010
contract lost RM67 to RM2,447 per tonne.
A total of 56,647 lots were transacted this week, down from last
week’s 70,198 lots.
On Friday, open interest stood at 65,539 contracts compared with
65,625 contracts at the end of last week.
As for the cash market, May South was traded lower at RM2,500 per
tonne from RM2,570 per tonne.. — Bernama
Source : Business Times
