Malaysian palm oil futures fell for a second consecutive day on Thursday evening as a stronger ringgit dragged the market down, outweighing an improvement in export demand. Palm oil fell in the previous session as the local currency strengthened against the dollar, but has gained about 8 percent this month on persistent worries that a crop-damaging El Nino weather event would curb yields. The palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was 0.9 percent lower at 2,721 ringgit ($698) per tonne at the closing trade.
Traded volumes were 43,638 lots of 25 tonnes each, compared with a 2015 daily average of 44,600 lots. Palm oil futures were down on the ringgit factor, said a trader based in Kuala Lumpur, but export data helped to cushion the market. Malaysian shipments of palm products for March 1 to 31 jumped 22 to 24 percent from a month earlier, data released by cargo surveyors showed on Thursday, boosted by demand from India.
Technical charts show palm oil could reach a target of 2,695 ringgit, as it failed to break a resistance at 2,800 ringgit, according to Reuters market analyst for commodities and technicals Wang Tao. In competing vegetable oil markets, the May Chicago Board of Trade soyoil contract rose 0.2 percent, while the September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained 0.4 percent. The offer price for crude palm kernel oil dropped to 5406.81 ringgit per tonne in the evening, its second straight fall from a five-year high hit on Tuesday evening, according to price assessments by Thomson Reuters.
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