KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures reversed gains on Thursday evening as the market took profit after hitting a two-week high.
The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.3 percent at 2,506 ringgit ($576.75) a tonne by the close, having touched its strongest since April 14 at 2,545 ringgit.
Traded volumes reached 51,302 lots of 25 tonnes each.
"There is some profit-taking in the market, which is doing some range-bound trading," said one futures trader from Kuala Lumpur.
Palm has also been weighed down recently by bearish sentiments over weak exports and on forecasts of rising production. It is on track for a third straight week of declines, down 0.9 percent on week so far.
Shipments from Malaysia, the world's second-largest palm producer, fell month on month by in the April 1-25 period, with data from two cargo surveyors putting the decline at 1.2 percent and 3.4 percent respectively.
However, production is seen rising in the coming months in line with seasonal trends and as the lingering effects of a crop-damaging El Nino wear off.
In related vegetable oils, soybean oil on the Chicago Board of Trade slipped 0.2 percent, while the September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained up to 0.2 percent.
The September contract for palm olein jumped as much as 1.3 percent.
Palm oil prices are affected by movements in related edible oils that compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
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