Malaysian palm oil snaps 1-wk losing streak on crude price gains

JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures snapped a week-long losing streak on Tuesday, gaining slightly in early trade to match rising crude oil prices.

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 0.57 percent to 2,131 ringgit ($522.30) per tonne at the midday break.

Prices of the edible oil had fallen nearly 2 percent in the past 1 week on weak demand and high stockpiles in the world's second-largest producer.

Trading volumes were thin at 9,450 lots of 25 tonnes each.

"I believe it's more a technical correction since the market is overdone, and further gains in crude oil is also helping," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader, adding that price movements were likely to be minimal.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures CLc1 were at $56.97 per barrel at 0054 GMT, up 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last settlement. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $66.75 per barrel, up 17 cents, or 0.3 percent.

In other related oils, the Chicago May soybean oil contract was last up 0.24 percent.

The May soyoil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange slipped 0.03 percent.

Palm oil prices track the performances of other edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.