Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Wednesday for a second consecutive trading session on a strengthening ringgit and after its rally last month shifted demand to Indonesia. The benchmark December contract fell 2.23 percent to 2,319 ringgit ($550.18) a tonne at the midday break on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange. It had reached a near 15-month high of 2,444 ringgit on Tuesday. "The market is falling due to the stronger ringgit today," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader with a foreign commodities brokerage.
"Also, without any significant rally in the soy oil market, traders are taking the opportunity to take profit." Traded volume stood at 49,935 lots of 25 tonnes each, above the average 35,000 lots usually traded in a day. The ringgit jumped more than 5 percent to a five-week high on Wednesday. A weakening ringgit, used to trade palm oil, usually supports prices.
On the technical front, palm oil looks neutral in a range of 2,349-2,464 ringgit per tonne and an escape will point a direction, said Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals Wang Tao. In other vegetable oil markets, the US December soyoil contract was down 0.24 percent.
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