Palm hits 4-wk high on strong markets

JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures rose as much as 1.7 per cent to a four-week intraday high before finishing slightly off the high, underpinned by a rebound in crude oil and rival soy prices, traders said. "I believe a strong overseas market offset heavy short-covering," said a trader with a commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.
The benchmark April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 29 ringgit to 2,550 ringgit ($740.96) per tonne, after going as high as 2,563 ringgit, a level not seen since Jan. 12. Traded volume was 13,069 lots of 25 tonnes each.
Industry regulator Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) will release January palm oil production, exports and stocks on Wednesday while cargo surveyors will release their estimates for Feb. 1-10 exports on the same day. In the Malaysian physical market, palm oil for February delivery was traded at 2,550-2,560 ringgit in the southern and central regions.
In Indonesia, Jakarta-based PT KBN Nusantara, formerly known as the state marketing centre, sold 5,500 tonnes of crude palm oil at a top price of 7,425 rupiah ($0.791) per kg, against 7,326 rupiah on Friday. Producers in Medan, home to Indonesia's main palm oil export port of Belawan, did not hold a palm oil tender.
Refiners in Jakarta offered refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm oil, used as cooking oil, sold at 7,850 rupiah per kg, up from 7,750-7,700 rupiah on Friday. -Reuters