JAKARTA: Volatile Malaysian palm oil futures retreated from 11-month lows on Tuesday, finishing higher while tracking crude oil prices and as traders covered short positions.

By the close, the benchmark palm oil contract for October on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.3 percent at 2,060 ringgit ($534) a tonne.

“Bargain hunting and short-covering was seen at the new low levels,” said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.

Palm prices fell as far as 2,026 ringgit, their lowest since Sept. 11 last year, and have lost 3 percent so far this month. 

Traded volume stood at 53,767 lots of 25 tonnes each, well above the roughly 35,000 lots that usually trade in a single session.

An uncertain demand outlook, exacerbated by economic worries in top buyer China, had weighed on prices during most of Tuesday’s session, with traders ignoring upside from a weak ringgit and the potential impact of dry weather spurred by El Nino.

In other vegetable oils, the U.S. August soyoil contract eased 0.5 percent in late Asian trade, while the most active soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange added 0.1 percent.

Palm oil, used as cooking oil and to make a range of foodstuffs from instant noodles to margarines, as well as an additive in biodiesel, typically tracks soyoil, a common food and fuel substitute for palm.

Also helping turn palm positive, crude oil prices steadied at $50 a barrel after a 5 percent drop and badly bruised commodity and Chinese markets were calmer generally, as investors attempted to shake off recent turbulence.

Palm may fall into a range of 1,997-2,031 ringgit, driven by a powerful wave C, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. 
    
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1021 GMT                                                                                                          

Contract	Month	Last	Change	Low	High	Volume
MY PALM OIL	AUG5	2056	+0.00	2039	2057	133
MY PALM OIL	SEP5	2059	+3.00	2024	2074	4235
MY PALM OIL	OCT5	2060	+6.00	2026	2073	25891
CHINA PALM OLEIN	JAN6	4642	-58	4596	4666	714354
CHINA SOYOIL	JAN6	5446	+6.00	5364	5452	533788
CBOT SOY OIL	DEC5	30.35	-0.40	30.11	30.43	7514
INDIA PALM OIL	AUG5	407.9	-0.40	404.5	409	1487
INDIA SOYOIL	AUG5	569.65	+1.20	565.6	570.5	23590
NYMEX CRUDE	SEP5	45.96	+0.79	45.29	46.05	34911

   
  Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne                                                                                                                                                                     
  CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound                                                                                                                                                                               
  Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne                                                                                                                                                        
  India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 k g                                                                                                                                                                            
  Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel                                                                                                                                                                                   
    
($1 = 3.8570 ringgit)
($1 = 63.7600 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.2086 Chinese yuan)
– Reuters

Source : The Star

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