Malaysia's crude palm oil futures touched a two-week high on Monday before profit taking erased some of the gains.
Dealers expected range-bound trade until fresh leads emerged. The third-month contract on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, December, ended 12 ringgit higher at 1,445 ringgit ($380.26) a tonne.
The contract had risen to 1,448 ringgit, it's highest since September 17 when it touched 1,458.
Overall volume was heavy at 7,425 lots. "It's a bit of technical buying and there was also some covering by refiners," said one dealer. "I would say we are going to see range-bound trade of 1,420 to 1,450 ringgit this week.
There's nothing much going on lately," he said.
Dealers said the market would trade within familiar ranges until the release of latest crop and trade estimates for September from private forecaster Ivan Wong. Wong is scheduled to issue between on Wednesday and Thursday his latest outlook on palm oil production, exports and closing stocks for September. The crop forecaster had projected two weeks ago that output for September would be around 1.42 million tonnes, against the 1.32 million tonnes seen officially in August.
He had estimated stocks at a high of 1.4 million tonnes, far above the psychological level of one million tonnes.
Stocks stood at 1.26 million tonnes at the end of August. In the physical market, October saw buyers/sellers at 1,515/1,520 ringgit a tonne in Malaysia's southern and central regions.
Trades were done at 1,515-1,520 ringgit for both regions. November saw buyers/sellers at 1,480/1,495 ringgit for southern and central regions. No deals were reported.
PALM OIL FUTURES:
October (south): 1520.
Open/High/Low: 1435/1448/1426.
Previous close: 1520.
PALM OIL PHYSICALS:
December (3rd month): 1445.
Previous settlement: 1433.
FUTURES:
Pared gains on profit taking. Key support seen at 1,420 ringgit.
PHYSICALS:
Steady with refiners covering reported for spot month.