Palm oil eases from six-week highs, set for 7% monthly gain

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Friday, a day after hitting a six-week peak, weighed by cheaper soyoil and slowing shipments outlook, although the benchmark contract was on track to clock a near-7% monthly gain.

The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 51 ringgit, or 1.35%, to 3,733 ringgit ($922.18) a tonne by the midday break.

For the week, palm is set to rise 5.9%, the biggest weekly jump in four.

The contract also succumbed to profit-taking ahead of the weekend after peaking at a six-week high in the previous session, said Sathia Varqa, co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics.

"Palm discount to soybean oil is super-attractive on the cash and futures market, though still highly volatile," he added.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Feb. 1-25 rose 14.2% to 967,845 tonnes from Jan. 1-25, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said. This is smaller compared to a 28% monthly rise in exports during Feb. 1-20.

Dalian's most-active soyoil contract was unchanged, while its palm oil contract gained 0.3%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.8%.

Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Palm oil may test a resistance at 3,834 ringgit per tonne, a break above which could lead to a gain to 3,888 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.