Crude palm oil (CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended easier yesterday on lack of fresh leads, dealers said.

“The sentiment was lower amid a sluggish, rangebound trade with no clear directions,” they said.

They said investors had to look at external markets for clue.

Therefore, they would monitor closely the weather situation in the US on the possibility of excessive rains which could affect the rival soy harvest, a dealer said.

Another dealer said most investors were reluctant to take positions yesterday as they waited out for official data on market fundamentals. Next week, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board is due to announce the October palm oil exports, production and stocks data.

On Monday, Cargo Surveyor Intertek Testing Services reported that exports of Malaysian palm oil products for October rose 15.8 per cent to 1,422 tonnes from 1,277 tonnes shipped in September.

At close, the November 2009 contract went down by RM6 to settle at RM2,110 per tonne and December 2009 eased RM13 to RM2,167 per tonne.

January 2010 contract dropped RM18 to RM2,190 per tonne and February 2010 fell RM11 to RM2,210 per tonne.

Turnover declined to 12,666 lots from 18,601 lots on Monday while open interest decreased to 94,564 contracts from 94,956 contracts on Monday.

On the physical market, November South dropped to RM2,160 per tonne from RM2,170 per tonne previously. Source: Business Times

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