Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed lower on Wednesday as players took gains from a recent rally that lifted prices to two-year highs. "The uptrend seems to be over for the time being," said one dealer. "The market will test lower levels."
The benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives finished down 6 ringgit at 1,674 ringgit ($460) a tonne after trading in a range of 1,664 and 1,687 ringgit. Last week the contract closed at 1,724, the highest since May 2004.
Most other traded contracts closed between 2 and 21 ringgit lower. Overall volume stood at 13,890 lots of 25 tonnes each. Open interest, which indicates the number of players in the market, shot up to 86,111 lots from 50,000 to 60,000 lots on normal days.
Traders said the market awaited export numbers for the first 10 days of November to be issued by cargo surveyors on Friday. The state-run Malaysian Palm Oil Board will also release October palm oil production, stocks and export data on Friday.
The market ignored gains by soyoil prices. The Chicago Board of Trade soybean market ended higher on Tuesday, getting a boost from the rally in corn, traders said. December soyoil closed up 0.13 cent at 27.67 cents per lb, with the deferreds up 0.03 to 0.12 cent.
In the physical crude palm oil market, November shipment for the southern region was quoted at 1,650/1,655 ringgit a tonne. Trades were done between 1,645 and 1,650 ringgit.
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