KUALA LUMPUR: The following factors are likely to influence Malaysian palm oil futures and other vegetable oil markets on Monday.

FUNDAMENTALS

 * Palm oil strengthened in Malaysia on Friday snapping three weeks of declines, buoyed by firmer crude oil prices, buyers stocking up ahead of the Muslim fasting month and a week of extreme heat that suggested an El Nino weather pattern may be on the way.

 * U.S. soybean futures rose on Friday in a short-covering and technical-buying rebound a day after a steep drop to a 2-1/2 month low.

 * Crude oil prices rose to new nine-month highs on Friday as concerns persisted that an insurgency in Iraq could disrupt oil exports from the second-largest OPEC producer.

MARKET NEWS

 * Escalating violence in Iraq drove crude oil prices to nine-month highs on Friday while damping the appetite for risk, even as bullish news from the U.S. tech sector lifted shares on Wall Street and helped buoy stocks in global equity markets.

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Source : The Star