Palm oil jumps to two-month top as ringgit, rupiah weaken

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose to a two-month high on Tuesday evening, charting a third straight session of gains, as the Malaysian ringgit and the Indonesian rupiah weakened and related edible oils moved higher.

A weaker ringgit, palm oil's traded currency, makes it cheaper for holders of foreign currencies. The ringgit fell 0.2 percent to 4.1370 against the dollar, its lowest since Nov. 22.

The benchmark palm oil contract for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 1.8 percent at 2,298 ringgit ($555.47) a tonne at the close of trade. It earlier rose as much as 1.9 percent to 2,301 ringgit, its strongest levels since July 5.

Traded volumes stood at 38,842 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the day.

"Palm opened higher taking cues from gains in competing vegetable oils. Malaysia's ringgit and Indonesia's rupiah are also both weak," said a futures trader in Kuala Lumpur.

Indonesia is the world's largest producer and exporter of palm oil. It's currency fell 0.8 percent to 14,930 against the dollar on Tuesday, its weakest in a decade.

In related oils, the Chicago December soybean oil contract was up 0.6 percent, while January soybean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange jumped 1.7 percent.

Dalian January palm oil rose 2.1 percent.

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

Palm oil may rise to 2,322 ringgit per tonne in a week, as suggested by its wave pattern and a projection analysis, according to Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.