KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose 1 percent in first-half trade on Wednesday, heading for their third straight session of gains, on the back of a weaker ringgit.
The Malaysian currency fell as much as 0.6 percent to 4.443 against the dollar, its lowest in more than a year. It has shed nearly 6 percent since Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election on Nov. 8, making it Asia's worst performing currency.
Weakness in the ringgit, the currency that palm oil is traded in, usually makes the tropical oil cheaper for foreign buyers.
Benchmark palm oil futures for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange were up 1.06 percent at 2,959 ringgit ($666.74) a tonne at the midday break.
Traded volumes stood at 10,004 lots of 25 tonnes each.
Palm oil futures largely tracked the ringgit movement as there was no other stimulus, said a trader based in Kuala Lumpur.
"Trading volume is thin as the market awaits price outlook from the conference in Bali tomorrow," added the trader.
Palm oil is expected to test a resistance at 2,963 ringgit per tonne, a break above which could lead to a gain to the next resistance at 3,002 ringgit, Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals, said.
In related vegetable oils, the December soybean oil contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade fell 0.15 percent, while the January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange dipped 0.18 percent.
In related vegetable oils, the January contract for palm olein on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 0.64 percent.
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