Malaysian palm oil futures rose for a third straight session on Monday, touching a one-week high on support from US soyaoil although a stronger ringgit weighed on the market. The benchmark palm oil contract for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.7 percent at 2,254 ringgit ($549.09) a tonne at the close of trade. Earlier in the session, it rose to 2,260 ringgit, matching an intraday high hit on August 10.
Trading volumes stood at 28,540 lots of 25 tonnes each on Monday evening. "External markets have been steady, lending support to palm," said a futures trader in Kuala Lumpur, adding that appreciation in the ringgit may cap gains. Gains in the ringgit, the currency of trade for palm oil, typically make the vegetable oil more expensive for foreign buyers, thus limiting demand.
The ringgit strengthened by 0.2 percent to 4.0990 against the dollar by the end of the trading day, after six consecutive sessions of declines. Chicago soyabean and soyaoil prices rose over 1 percent each on Monday with traders expecting China to resume purchases of US cargoes after planned talks between the two nations.
The Chicago December soyabean oil contract was up 1 percent and the January soyabean oil contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange was trading flat. The Dalian January palm oil contract edged up 0.7 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 into a range of 2,269-2,277 ringgit per tonne as it has cleared resistance at 2,240 ringgit, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
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