KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures slipped on Thursday after the Christmas break, weighed down by heavy selling and weakness in Dalian palm olein.

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 12 ringgit, or 0.26%, to 4,546 ringgit ($1,017.69) a metric ton at the midday break.

The contract rose 2.82% on Monday and Tuesday.

Crude palm oil futures opened lower, pressured by heavy morning selling and overnight weakness in Dalian palm olein, a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said.

Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 0.16% and its palm oil contract shed 0.48%.

The Chicago Board of Trade will reopen for trading at 1430 GMT.

Palm oil tracks price movements of rival edible oils as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services estimates exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Dec. 1-25 to have fallen 4% from 1,200,421 metric tons shipped during Nov. 1-25.

Indonesia’s October palm oil exports at 2.89mn metric tons, industry group says

Amspec Agri is expected to release its export estimates later in the day.

Oil prices edged higher in thin holiday trading, driven by hopes for additional fiscal stimulus in China, the world’s biggest oil importer, while an anticipated decline in US crude inventories also provided support.

The ringgit, palm’s currency of trade, strengthened 0.38% against the US dollar, making the commodity more expensive for buyers holding foreign currencies.

Palm oil may bounce further into the 4,624-4,684 ringgit per metric ton range as it has climbed a falling channel, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.