Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended down for a third straight day on Wednesday as prices of rival US soyaoil, which often guide the local market, remained weak.
Buyers also shrugged off India's move to trim base import prices of edible oils, saying the cuts did not offer major advantages to palm oil.
"It's a few dollars of difference here and there," said a trader, referring to the new base prices announced by New Delhi on Wednesday. At the close, the new benchmark third-month February contract on Bursar Malaysia Derivatives showed 7-ringgit loss to settle at 1,415 ringgit ($374.44) a tonne. It fell as much as 12 ringgit to an intrude low of 1,410. Other traded months closed down 5 to 11 ringgit. Overall volume was 5,543 lots of 25 tonnes each, heavier than on Tuesday's 4,855 lots.
The market can easily surpass 6,000 lots on a busy day. Dealers attributed the bearish streak to weakness in Chicago Board of Trade's soyaoil.
"The CBOT is down and aside from that, there isn't much for people to follow," said a trader. Soyaoil and palm oil compete for exports and their prices often move in step.
CBOT soyaoil closed down fell on Tuesday on thin leads and remained depressed on Wednesday's electronic session, conducted during Asian business hours. Palm oil dealers said there was little cheer in their market after the poor performance of exports this month due to long holidays for religious festivities.
Cargo surveyor Society General de Surveillance (SGS) said on Monday that Malaysian exports of oil palm products for November 1-15 were estimated to have fallen 16.7 percent from figures tracked for October 1-15.
It had estimated a 40 percent drop in shipments for November 1-10 due to a near weeklong break for the Hindu Dowel and Muslim Eid-ul-Fitr festivals. In physical dealings of crude palm oil on Wednesday, the November contract saw buyers/sellers at 1,415/1,420 ringgit a tonne.
Trades were reported at 1,422.50-1,420 ringgit in the southern region of Malaysia and 1,422.50-1,415 in the central region.
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