Malaysian palm oil up

Malaysian palm oil futures ended slightly higher on Wednesday, easing from a near four-week high earlier in the session that was fuelled by a rally in crude oil prices and hopes of improving exports. With cargo surveyors due to report Malaysia's October 1-15 palm exports the next day, the market will take cues from the data and breach the 2,000 ringgit resistance level as well as extend a three-day winning streak, traders say.
But a stronger ringgit currency may curb gains with palm oil refiners facing a margin squeeze since they buy domestic crude palm oil priced in ringgit and sell refined by-products overseas using the weaker US dollar. The benchmark December contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivative Exchange rose as much as 39 ringgit to 2,197 ringgit ($652.5), a level unseen since September 18. The contract ended up 3 ringgit at 2,160 ringgit a tonne as some traders booked profits when it failed to go past the 2,000 ringgit level.
Exports for the first half of September stood at between 529,980 and 538,200 tonnes, according to cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance. The ringgit has gained more than 3 percent against US dollar in the past two weeks, trading at 3.3690 per dollar.
The palm oil market, once again, breached the 200-day moving average at 2,176 ringgit, a long-term indicator suggesting that sentiment should improve with traders saying stronger crude oil will give that added boost. US crude oil hit a 2009 high above $75 a barrel on Wednesday, lending support to other vegetable oil markets.
The most active May 2010 on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange, which leads Asian vegetable oil markets in Asia, rose 0.5 percent. US soyoil for December delivery gained 0.4 percent in Asian trade thanks to the weaker dollar and a slow soybean harvest season.
INDONESIA PALM TRADES In Indonesia, the state marketing centre based in Jakarta did not sell any of 11,500 tonnes of palm oil offered in an auction due to low bids. Producers in Medan, home to Indonesia's main palm oil export port of Belawan, sold palm oil at 6,535 rupiah ($0.698) per kg against 6,529-6,590 rupiah a day earlier. Refiners in Jakarta offered refined, bleached, deodorised (RBD) palm oil, used as cooking oil, at 6,500-6,550 rupiah per kg against 6,550-6,600 rupiah a day ago.