KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose more than 2% on Friday and logged a fourth straight weekly gain, driven by firmer rival edible oils and positive export data from cargo surveyors.
The benchmark palm oil contract for December delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 117 ringgit, or 2.76%, to 4,350 ringgit ($1,015.41) a metric ton at the close.
The contract gained 1.16% this week. Several factors, including robust export figures from cargo surveyors for the Oct. 1-10 period, stronger Dalian Commodity Exchange vegetable oils and Chicago soyoil’s gains overnight, were behind the market’s performance on Friday, said Darren Lim, a commodities strategist with Singapore-based brokerage firm Philip Nova.
“From a technical perspective, we are also observing a pattern which is typically indicative of a bullish trend,” he said. Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract rose 0.78%, while its palm oil contract climbed 1.63%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.55%. Palm oil tracks the price movements of rival edible oils as they compete for a share of the global vegetable oils market. Cargo surveyors estimated exports of Malaysian palm oil products during Oct. 1-10 rose between 13.6% and 18.9% from a month earlier.
The ringgit, palm’s currency of trade, strengthened 0.09% against the dollar, making the commodity more expensive for buyers holding foreign currencies. Oil prices softened on Friday but were set for a second weekly gain as investors weighed the impact of hurricane damage on US demand against any broad supply disruption if Israel attacks Iranian oil sites. Weaker crude oil futures make palm a less attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.
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