Crude  palm oil futures edged slightly lower yesterday with few fresh leads for investors ahead of a holiday weekend, traders said.

“Overall there were not many players in market. There is not much news, that’s why market is moving in a tight range.

Nobody is taking big positions,” said a trader.

The benchmark November palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange edged down RM11, or 0.5 per cent to RM2,346 per tonne, after moving in a tight range of RM2,335 to RM2,369.

Overall volume was about average at 11,155 lots of 25 tonnes each.

The market will be closed on Monday for a public holiday.

Traders said investors were looking for any fresh leads regarding the world’s number 2 palm oil producer for August.

Lower production is key to keeping August’s closing stocks low after the 25-days exports data showed shipments dropped as much as 10.5 per cent to 1,000,846 tonnes, from 1,117,848 tonnes shipped between July 1 and 25.

Another trader said the market was actually holding up quite well given the fact that exports have dropped, which is very likely because people are betting on production also falling in August.

In the physical market, palm oil for August and September delivery was traded at RM2,450/RM2,460 in the southern region and at RM2,450 in the central regions.