Malaysian palm oil futures rose from a one-week low hit early on Monday, lifted by prospects of better export demand to end the trading day up 0.4 percent. The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.4 percent at 2,515 ringgit ($646.70) a tonne at the close of trade, its second consecutive session of gains. It earlier fell to 2,485 ringgit, its lowest level since February 9.
Palm had hit a near one-month high last Monday, but was down 0.2 percent on a weekly basis last week. Trading volumes stood at 28,608 lots of 25 tonnes each on Monday evening.
"The market believes that exports will be good," said a Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader, adding that the market was awaiting export data release from cargo surveyors. Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance are scheduled to announce Malaysian palm oil shipment data for the February 1-20 period on Tuesday.
Exports rose 10-12 percent during February 1-15 versus the same time period a month ago. Palm fell earlier, tracking overnight losses in US soyaoil on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), which saw its March contract dip 0.5 percent on Friday, but is closed on Monday for a national holiday.
China's Dalian Commodity Exchange also remains closed for the Lunar New Year celebrations before resuming trading on Thursday. Palm oil prices are impacted by other rival edible oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
Palm oil looks neutral in a narrow range of 2,486-2,518 ringgit per tonne, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
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