CPO FUTURES END HIGHER, LIFTED BY RISING SOYBEAN OIL PRICE

By Durratul Ain Ahmad Fuad

KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 (Bernama) -- The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended higher today, lifted by stronger Chicago Board of Trade soybean oil prices during Asian hours. 

However, palm oil trader David Ng said weaker export estimates are putting pressure on the commodity and limiting its upside potential.  “We see the commodity’s price support at RM3,850 a tonne and resistance at RM4,000,” he told Bernama. 

Fastmarkets Palm Oil Analytics senior analyst Dr Sathia Varqa noted that CPO futures ended higher on Monday after a day of unsettling trade.  

“Futures started off the day higher but gave up most of the gains by mid-day, and subsequently clawed higher to finish by a modest 26 points drawing some support from related vegetable oils futures in Asia.

“Related vegetable oils futures - palm olein and soybean oil - finished the day firmly higher locking in over 100 points on the Dalian Commodity Exchange futures while rapeseed oil futures closed above 60 points on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange,” he said. 

At the close, the spot month June 2024 contract gained RM10 to RM3,905 a tonne, July 2024 added RM22 to RM3,916 and August 2024 increased RM29 to RM3,921.

The September 2024 note went up RM30 to RM3,925 a tonne, October 2024 was RM32 higher at RM3,931 and November 2024 rose by RM36 to RM3,942.

Total volume declined to 52,100 lots from last Friday’s 67,458 while open interest narrowed to 199,664 contracts from 204,710.

The physical CPO price for June South remained unchanged at RM3,950 per tonne.

-- BERNAMA