KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures rose for a fourth straight session on Thursday, buoyed by stronger rival Dalian oils and bargain buying.
The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 86 ringgit, or 1.79%, to 4,884 ringgit ($1,099.01) a metric ton at the close.
Crude palm oil futures were seen recovering, after opening lower, on bargain buying as tightness in palm oil supply persists, said Anilkumar Bagani, research head at Sunvin Group.
Separately, a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said the overnight sell-off in Chicago soyoil had a spillover effect on crude palm oil futures this morning, but the uptick in rival Dalian oils prevented prices from falling further.
Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract rose 0.1%, while its palm oil contract added 1.56%. The Chicago Board of Trade was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Palm oil tracks the price movements of rival edible oils as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market. Oil prices were flat on Thursday after a surprise jump in US gasoline inventories and postponement of the OPEC+ meeting on output policy to Dec. 5 from Dec. 1. Stronger crude oil futures make palm a more attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.
The ringgit, palm’s currency of trade, weakened 0.09% against the US dollar, making the commodity cheaper for buyers holding foreign currencies.
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