Malaysian palm oil futures rebounded on Tuesday, up from a five-month low touched in the previous session, tracking a revival in soyaoil on the Chicago Board of Trade. Benchmark palm oil futures for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 0.5 percent to 2,707 ringgit ($613.28) a tonne by the end of the day, the first gain in four sessions and the strongest daily rise in a week.
Traded volumes stood at 40,713 lots of 25 tonnes each. "Palm is up due to soyabean oil... which is holding up and is supportive for palm," said a futures trader from Kuala Lumpur.
"In the short term I see prices going back up, but output should also be picking up."
Palm has been range-bound since late-February with market signals mixed, as demand remains weak and output growth is still uncertain, traders said. It is in line for a third weekly drop in four, losing 1.7 percent on a weekly basis last week.
Malaysian production in February dropped 1.4 percent on month. March data is however expected to show a recovery in line with the seasonal trend, which would pressure benchmark prices of the tropical oil. Palm oil prices also take direction from related vegetable oils, including soyaoil, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oil market.
Soyabean oil on the Chicago Board of Trade fell up to 2 percent on Monday over concerns about rising supplies, before seeing a recovery. It was down 0.1 percent on Tuesday.
In other related edible oils, the September soyabean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange dropped 1.1 percent, while the September contract for palm olein on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.6 percent.