KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian crude palm oil futures hit their highest in nine months on Friday, buoyed by an improved global outlook and upbeat price forecasts for the edible oil from analysts at a key conference.
Signs that Greece may avoid a chaotic default and hopes for a strengthening US economy have raised the prospect of stronger commodity demand, helping stocks and commodities across the board on Friday.
Analysts said bullish price outlooks at the Bursa Malaysia palm oil conference that ended on Wednesday also drove palm oil prices higher, taking gains for the year to 5.7 percent.
Leading analyst Dorab Mistry forecast palm oil would hit 4,000 ringgit by the end of June, due to demand from India and stocking by Muslim countries ahead of the fasting month.
Analysts and traders polled at the conference by Reuters said palm oil prices this year will hit a record average of 3,430 ringgit per tonne, up nearly six percent from a 2011 average of 3,238 ringgit.
"Fundamentally what we already knew has been out there in the market for a while. If we are talking about why there is a sudden surge, it could be the very bullish outlook at the conference," said Selena Leong, an analyst with DMG&Partners Research in Singapore.
Benchmark May palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 1.6 percent to close at 3,355 ringgit ($1,115) per tonne. Prices hit an intraday high of 3,368 ringgit, a level not seen since last June.
Traded volumes stood at 26,245 lots of 25 tonnes each, slightly above the usual 25,000 lots.
Technical charts show palm oil is expected to rise to 3,398 ringgit per tonne, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said.
Market players are now shifting their focus to Malaysia's export numbers to gauge the impact of Indonesia's move to cut export taxes on refined palm oil shipments.
Cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance will release Malaysian export data for March 1-10 on Saturday and Monday, respectively.
Brent crude dipped slightly on Friday, holding around $125, having risen more than $3 over the past two sessions ahead of the Greek bond swap deal, and as investors' focus has shifted to the US jobs report later in the day.
In other vegetable oil markets, the US soyoil contract for March delivery gained close to 2 percent in Asian trade and the most active September 2012 soyoil contract on China's Dalian Commodity exchange jumped 2.5 percent.
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