Palm edges down on weaker soyoil

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell from an eight week high in the first half of trade on Thursday, weighed by weaker soyoil on the US Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and profit taking activities.

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.4 percent at 2,189 ringgit ($523.31) a tonne at the midday break.

It earlier rose to 2,200 ringgit a tonne, matching the previous sessions' intraday high, its best since Oct. 24.

Trading volumes stood at 11,975 lots of 25 tonnes each at the midday break.

"The market is down tracking soyoil and profit taking," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader, referring to CBOT soyoil.

Palm oil prices are impacted by changes in soyoil prices, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oil market.

US soybean prices hit a three-week low on Thursday, with investors disappointed by the strength of Chinese demand for North American supplies amid a truce in a trade war between the two nations.

Soybean and soyoil prices were earlier up after Chinese importers booked US soybean shipments in the second wave of purchases since striking a trade war truce with Washington earlier this month.

The Chicago January soybean oil contract was last down 0.5 percent, while the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained 0.2 percent.

In other related oils, the Dalian January palm oil contract rose 1.9 percent.