Malaysian palm oil futures edged down slightly at the close of trade on Tuesday, tracking overnight losses in soyaoil, but remained largely range-bound as a weaker ringgit offset losses, traders said. A weaker ringgit, palm's currency of trade, typically supports the tropical oil by making it cheaper for holders of other currencies. The ringgit weakened 0.1 percent against the dollar on Tuesday and was last at 4.0445.
The benchmark palm oil contract for October delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.1 percent at 2,171 ringgit ($536.78) a tonne at the end of the trading day, near a three-year low hit on Friday. Trading volume stood at 61,574 lots of 25 tonnes each.
"Palm is following the overnight drop in the rival oilseed, but its current recovery and weakness in the local currency may cushion selling activities," a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said, referring to US soyaoil on the Chicago Board of Trade. Another trader said that overall market sentiment was still weak because of muted demand, though cargo surveyor data showed that the decline in exports has been easing.
Malaysia palm oil exports fell 2.7 percent in the first half of July from the previous month, according to data from inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia, compared with a 14.4 percent decline for the July 1-10 period. Cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance reported an 8.8 percent decline in Malaysian palm oil exports for the July 1-15 period, versus a 23.1 percent fall in the June 1-10 period.
In related oils, the Chicago December soyabean oil contract fell more than 1 percent on Monday but was last up 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, the September soyabean oil contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.7 percent and the Dalian September palm oil contract was also up 0.7 percent. Palm oil prices are usually affected by the performance of other edible oils that compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.
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