JAKARTA: Malaysian palm oil futures rebounded on Friday from a selloff in the previous session, amid tight near-term supplies that helped the contract post a weekly gain of about 7%.

The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 1.48% higher at 6,031 ringgit ($1,433.22) per tonne, recovering from a 4% drop on Thursday.”

Palm closed higher on bargain buying after yesterday’s big decline,” said Anilkumar Bagani, research head of Mumbai-based vegetable oils broker Sunvin Group.

The contract rose 7.14% this week, regaining some ground after last week’s 16% loss, its worst week since 1986.Meanwhile, exports of Malaysian palm oil products in March 1-25 fell around 4.9% from the same period a month earlier, according to cargo surveyors estimates on Friday.

The drop in exports narrowed from around an 8% monthly drop in the March 1-20 period, while supply concerns remained due soft output and top producer Indonesia’s recent export levy changes.”

Supply in the near term is definitely tight, that is why cash prices are firm,” a trader in Kuala Lumpur said.

Meanwhile, soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were down 0.43%. Dalian’s soyoil May contract dropped 1.87%, while its palm oil contract fell 1.31%.Palm oil is typically affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Palm oil may extend its loss into a range of 5,744 ringgit to 5,855 ringgit per tonne, following its failure to break a resistance at 6,326 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.