Malaysian palm oil futures rebounded from losses earlier in the day to rise on Monday evening, lifted by improving export data and technical buying. The market had earlier hit a one-week low, weighed down by a stronger ringgit.
Gains in the ringgit, palm's currency of trade, usually make the oil more expensive for holders of foreign currencies. The ringgit strengthened 0.5 percent against the dollar on Monday evening to 3.8940. The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.25 percent to 2,434 ringgit ($625.06) a tonne at the close. It earlier fell to 2,412 ringgit, its lowest since March 20.
Trading volumes stood at 29,222 lots of 25 tonnes each on Monday evening.
"Apart from the export data, the market also rose on technical buying as it was unable to hit last week's low," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader.
Inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia reported on Monday that Malaysian palm oil shipments rose 9.5 percent between March 1 and 25 versus the same period last month.
Cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance reported on Monday evening a 10.6 percent gain in Malaysian palm oil shipments in the same period.
In the longer term, another trader said earlier on Monday that expectations of rising production for the full month of March could also weigh on sentiment. Palm oil output typically sees seasonal gains around the second quarter of the year before peaking in the third quarter.
In other related oils, the Chicago Board of Trade's May soyabean oil contract rose 0.6 percent, while the May soyabean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange was up 0.1 percent. The Dalian May palm oil contract declined 0.1 percent.
Palm oil prices are affected by movements in rival edible oils as they compete in the global vegetable oils market.
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