Palm oil sees first gain in four days on stronger Dalian

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures saw their first gain in four days in early trade on Thursday, tracking strength in related oils on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange and supported by a weaker ringgit, traders said.

A weaker ringgit, palm's currency of trade, usually makes the tropical oil cheaper for foreign buyers and spurs demand.

The ringgit, currently trading at one-year highs, eased on Thursday morning against the dollar. It was last down 0.2 percent at 4.0870 per dollar.

The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.6 percent to 2,578 ringgit ($630.78) a tonne at the midday break, in line to snap three consecutive days of declines.

Palm, however, is set for a fifth week of losses, and is down nearly 2 percent for the week so far.

Traded volumes stood at 10,417 lots of 25 tonnes each at noon.

"Dalian has been supportive so the market went up," said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur, while another trader added that the weaker ringgit on Thursday lifted palm.

"Upside movements, however, may find resistance in the absence of fresh market-moving factors and ahead of the long weekend holidays," he said.

Palm oil exports from Malaysia fell 5.3 percent for the full month of November, versus the previous month, said cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services on Thursday.

Malaysian markets will be closed on Friday for a national holiday.

Palm oil is impacted by movements in other edible oils as they compete for a share of the global vegetable oils market.

The January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was up 0.4 percent, while its January palm olein contract rose 0.5 percent.

In other related edible oils, the December soybean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade rose 0.4 percent.