Malaysian palm oil futures gain

Malaysian palm oil futures traded higher on Thursday with prices underpinned by concerns over tightening supplies and slowing demand.

The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange last traded up 9 ringgit, or 0.3%, to 2,887 ringgit ($692.33) a tonne.

Malaysia's palm oil inventories fell to a three-month low in November, while exports dropped on slowing purchases by top importers, industry regulator Malaysian Palm Oil Board said on Tuesday.

However, the decline was lower than expected. Stockpiles slid to 2.26 million tonnes, down 4.1% from the previous month. This compared with a Reuters survey forecasting reserves to drop 5.7% to 2.22 million tonnes.

Dalian's most-active soyaoil contract traded 0.7% higher, while its palm oil contract gained 0.6%.