Malaysian palm oil reversed earlier losses to end flat on Thursday tracking other vegetable oils while a weak ringgit and concerns over an El Nino weather pattern provided support. The September palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange ended unchanged at 2,267 ringgit ($600) a tonne after trading in a 2,245-2,278 ringgit band.
Palm prices were 0.5 percent lower on the week and remain near a one-month low last touched on June 22 at 2,218 ringgit.
"The market is range-trading," said a palm trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. "Bean oil up, we follow. Bean oil down, we follow."
"The ringgit weakens further. It's just following outside sentiment," he said, adding that concerns remained about Greece's debt default and its potential impact on European palm buying.
The Malaysian ringgit traded near 10-year lows, which is providing support as it makes benchmark palm cheaper for overseas buyers.
Total traded volume for palm by the midday break was 49,772 lots of 25 tonnes each, compared with the usual 35,000 lots.
Palm had posted its first positive day this week on Wednesday after a bullish US agriculture department report boosted sentiment.
Palm oil is biased to rise to resistance at 2,293 ringgit per tonne, as it seems to have stabilised around support at 2,216 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
In other vegetable oils, the US July soyoil contract was little changed, while the most active January soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was 0.3 percent lower.
Weather bureaus are confirming the return of an El Nino weather pattern this year, which can lead to scorching weather across Asia.
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