KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures traded sideways early Wednesday as the most active contract rolled over to a new month, underpinned by a surge in early February exports but weighed by weak crude futures.

The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 7 ringgit, or 0.13%, to 5,467 ringgit ($1,305.71) a tonne by 0303 GMT.

Fundamentals

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Feb. 1-15 rose between 18.8% and 23.6% from the previous month, rebounding from a dismal performance in January, according to data by cargo surveyors on Tuesday.

Palm closes at record high as India import tax cut fuels demand hopes

India has raised the base import prices of palm oil, soyoil, gold and silver, the government said in a statement late on Tuesday, as prices jumped in the overseas market.

Dalian's most-active soyoil contract fell 0.5%, while its palm oil contract lost 0.3%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.4%.

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 break a support at 5,359 ringgit per tonne and fall to 5,217 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.