Malaysian crude palm oil jumped to a near three-week high on Wednesday as the market reopened after a two-day break, tracking broader markets, such as soyoil, ahead of a key US crop report on Thursday. The US soyoil contract for March on the Chicago Board of Trade has gained 1.8 percent this week on prospects of higher demand, setting the stage for a palm oil rally.
Benchmark April palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 2.3 percent to close at 3,155 ringgit ($1,051) per tonne, but off the earlier high of 3,158 ringgit, a level last seen on January 26. Traded volumes stood at 24,972 lots of 25 tonnes each, just slightly thinner than the usual 25,000 lots. Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said palm oil futures will hover around a resistance at 3,115 ringgit per tonne for one or two trading sessions before climbing towards 3,165 ringgit. On the demand side, Malaysian palm oil exports for January eased close to 12 percent and 13 percent, according to cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance.
In related news, Indonesian palm oil firm Bumitama Gunajaya Agro, which shelved its Singapore initial public offering in June, now plans to raise about S$200 million through a listing in the second quarter, sources familiar with the matter said. In other vegetable oil markets, the US soyoil contract for March delivery and the most active September 2012 soyoil contract on China's Dalian Commodity exchange both inched up 0.7 percent.