Malaysian palm oil futures climbed to a two-week high on Friday, posting its first weekly gain out of five, as encouraging export data buoyed investor hopes for resilient global demand. Cargo surveyor data showed palm oil shipments in the first 25 days of April rose between 2.7 percent and 5.2 percent, fuelled by stronger demand from India, Europe and the United States.
Traders also noted a sudden spike in buying from India, the world's biggest edible oil consumer, as Indian traders took advantage of low physical prices to buy. "The market today is very strong. Exports are friendly to the market - it shows that demand is still there," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. The benchmark July contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange edged up 0.3 percent to close at 2,315 ringgit ($763) per tonne. Prices touched 2,334 ringgit earlier, the highest since April 12 and posted a 0.8 percent weekly gain after four straight weeks of losses.
Total traded volumes stood at 23,311 lots of 25 tonnes each, lower than the average 35,000 lots. Technical analysis showed palm oil is expected to end the current rebound at or below 2,347 ringgit per tonne, as indicated by its wave pattern and a Fibonacci retracement analysis, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said. Palm oil stocks stand at 2.17 million tonnes, after easing more than 10 percent from February. US soyaoil for July delivery dipped 0.4 percent. The most-active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange fell 0.6 percent.