KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures charted their first monthly gain since January at the close of trade on Wednesday, ending around a seven-week high on support from export data released by cargo surveyors.
The benchmark palm oil contract for October delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.4% at 2,070 ringgit ($501.82) a tonne at the end of the trading day, its sixth gain in seven sessions.
It earlier rose to a seven-week peak of 2,075 ringgit, which was also its intraday high on Monday. Markets were closed on Tuesday for a public holiday.
July Palm oil prices were up 6.1% on the month after five consecutive months of losses.
Palm oil could be peaking in a range of 2,076-2,083 ringgit a tonne, as suggested by a Fibonacci ratio analysis, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
"The market is up on better export numbers," said one Kuala Lumpur based trader, referring to shipment data from cargo surveyors on Wednesday.
Malaysian palm oil exports in July rose between 1.6% and 5.1% from the previous month, according to data from cargo surveyors Amspec Agri Malaysia, Societe Generale de Surveillance and Intertek Testing Services on Wednesday.
Price forecasts from an industry event in Mumbai on Tuesday also lent support.
Two leading industry analysts said prices would climb in the second half of the year. Dorab Mistry forecast prices to rise to 2,200 ringgit a tonne by September, while Thomas Mielke said prices are likely to recover because of a slowdown in production growth and rising demand from the biodiesel industry.
In related oils, US soyoil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were last down 0.3% on Wednesday.
The September soyoil contract on the Dalian exchange fell 0.4% and the Dalian September palm oil contract eased by 0.1%.
Palm oil prices are affected by movements in related oils that compete in the global vegetable oils market.
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