Malaysian palm oil futures rose 1.4 percent on Friday, boosted by gains in other vegetable oils while the market was closed for a holiday, but worries about the health of the global economy put a cap on prices. At the close, the benchmark November crude palm oil contract was at 3,050 Malaysian ringgit ($1,022) a tonne. It had earlier touched 3,069 ringgit, its highest since August 23.
Traded volumes for the contract were still thin at 6,215 lots of 25 tonnes each, although recovered from 2,862 lots on Monday, before many markets closed for Eidul-Fitr and other holidays. Indonesian markets are closed for the week. "Chicago Board of Trade markets rose over the week," said a Indonesia-based palm trader. "Palm is playing catch up."
"Overall sentiment is still rather cautious - it's just that we are doing some catching up after the long holiday," a dealer in Kuala Lumpur said. "Volumes are low as many people are still on leave." US soybean oil for September delivery rose 1 percent, while the most active May 2012 soy oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange also strengthened.
"We are getting some support from the soybean complex," said Abah Ofon, a Singapore-based analyst at Standard Chartered Bank. "I'm one of the lone palm oil bulls out there in the market."
Palm oil has lost about 20 percent so far this year due in part to high stocks, and persistent concerns about commodities demand due to uncertainties over economic growth. Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for August fell 0.5 percent to 1,620,408 tonnes, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) said late on Monday. Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for August fell 0.6 percent to 1,622,731 tonnes, fellow cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Friday.
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