SINGAPORE: Malaysian palm oil futures regained ground on Thursday after steep losses the previous day, but traders remained cautious on concerns a possible Greek exit from the euro zone could heighten the risk of a global recession and hurt demand for commodities. Palm oil suffered its sharpest drop since February 2011 on Wednesday, setting the stage for a recovery on bargain hunting. "This is some sort of a replication of what happened in May last year when the whole commodities market was going through a very volatile session," said Ker Chung Yang, an analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore. "Today we see some short-covering, some retracement. The 3,000-ringgit level is proving to be a strong psychological support. In the coming sessions we can see how much confidence investors have on palm oil." Benchmark August palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 1.5 percent to 3,130 ringgit ($1,007) per tonne by the ...

SINGAPORE: Malaysian palm oil futures slipped on Wednesday, as traders feared a prolonged political crisis in Greece could slow the global growth momentum and dampen commodity demand. Greek political leaders meet on Wednesday to establish a caretaker government that will lead the country into its second election in just over a month after a collapsed effort to form a coalition government. "The market is in a tug of war between yesterday's bullishness and external factors, especially the weaker broader markets, so it's stuck in a range," said a dealer with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. By the midday break, benchmark August palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slipped 1.3 percent to 3,168 ringgit ($1,019) per tonne. Prices lost more than 3 percent on Monday to close at 3,150 ringgit, the weakest since Feb. 13. Traded volumes stood at 17,205 lots of 25 tonnes each, much higher than the usual 12,500 ...

TOKYO: Tokyo rubber futures fell to a new four-month low on Tuesday as investors turned risk averse after a political impasse in Greece fanned the chance of a further rise in the yen currency and fed concerns about faltering demand for the industrial commodity. The benchmark rubber contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange for October delivery settled at 270.1 yen per kg, down 9.1 yen from the previous close. It earlier touched an intraday low of 265 yen, the lowest since Jan. 6. "If the debt crises worsen in the euro zone and if the dollar falls clearly below 80 yen, that would put a further pressure on the Tokyo market," said Naoki Asami, chief broker at trading house Kanetsu. The dollar hovered at around 79.90 yen, above a 2-1/2-month low of 79.428 yen hit last week. A weaker dollar curbs yen-denominated TOCOM rubber prices even if dollar-based rubber prices in producing countries stay ...