Malaysian palm oil futures extended gains on Thursday, climbing to the highest in more than two weeks with prices underpinned by strong demand of the vegetable oil.
A weaker Malaysian ringgit, which makes palm oil cheaper for importers holding other currencies, also fuelled gains in prices of the tropical oil, traders said.
The benchmark palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed up 0.3% at 2,353 ringgit (US$582.70) a tonne.
Earlier in the session, it climbed to 2,368 ringgit, highest since July 5. Traded volumes stood at 38,766 lots.
"With better demand seen in July and August, prices will continue to rise," said one Kuala Lumpur-based trader.
"We anticipate prices to surge, with 2,500 ringgit as the near-term target," the trader added.
Indicating firmer demand, exports of Malaysian palm oil products for July 1-20 rose 14% from a month earlier, data from cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services showed, while Societe General de Surveillance reported export growth at 15.3%.
Palm oil prices have risen this week after plumbing a 10-month low last week. The weak Malaysian ringgit, in which palm oil is priced and which helped to lift the market, lost more ground on Thursday and hit its lowest in three weeks.
Still, there could be some headwinds for palm oil from the weakness in Chicago soybean futures, which have lost more than 10% over the last three weeks.
Palm oil and soybean oil compete for a share of the global vegetable oil market.
On the technical front, palm oil may end its current bounce around a resistance at 2,374 ringgit, according to Wang Tao is a Reuters analyst.
The most actively-traded contract for palm olein on the Dalian Commodity Exchange finished almost unchanged, while Dalian soybean oil added 0.6%.
No comments:
Post a Comment