Palm snaps 4 sessions of losses, tracking soyoil strength

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose more than 1 percent during trade on Thursday, snapping four straight sessions of sharp falls, supported by gains in US soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and global stock markets.

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.5 percent at 2,104 ringgit ($505.04) a tonne at the close of trade. Earlier in the session, it climbed as much as 1.7 percent to 2,129 ringgit.

Trading volumes stood at 24,027 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day. <1FCPO-TOT>

"Palm is borrowing support from the recovery in rival oilseed," said a Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader, referring to CBOT soyoil.

The rally in global stock markets also contributed to palm's gains, said another palm oil trader.

World stocks bounced off a near two-year low on Thursday, lifted by a dramatic Wall Street surge, though a fall in Chinese industrial profits and renewed Italian banking worries offered a sobering reminder of the problems weighing on the world economy.

US stocks soared on Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rocketing more than 1,000 points for the first time.

In other related oils, the Chicago January soybean oil contract was up 0.4 percent, while the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the Dalian January palm oil contract was up 0.3 percent.

Palm oil prices are impacted by changes in soyoil prices, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oil market.