KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell more than 1 percent on Friday, retreating from the previous session's seven-month high, hindered by a stronger ringgit and losses in US soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade.
The benchmark palm oil contract for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed down 1.2 percent at 2,290 ringgit ($563.07) a tonne, its sharpest daily fall in over a week.
Palm rose to a seven-month high of 2,344 ringgit on Thursday but ended the week down 0.4 percent after three weeks of gains.
Trading volumes stood at 24,853 lots of 25 tonnes each. <1FCPO-TOT>
"The drop in rival oilseed and continuous appreciation in the ringgit may renew selling activities," said a Kuala Lumpur- based trader.
A stronger ringgit, palm's currency of trade, usually makes the edible oil more expensive for foreign buyers.
The ringgit, which had risen 0.5 percent on Thursday, extended its gains against the dollar on Friday. It was last up 0.1 percent at 4.0670 per dollar.
In other related oils, the Chicago March soybean oil contract fell 0.6 percent, in line with market concerns over a prolonged Washington-Beijing trade war and slowing global economic growth.
China's Dalian Commodity Exchange is closed for the Lunar New Year.
Palm oil prices are affected by movements in soyoil rates, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oil market.
Palm oil may fall to 2,274 ringgit per tonne, as its uptrend from the Jan. 14 low of 2,134 ringgit may have reversed, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.
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