Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Tuesday due to a stronger ringgit, while Chinese investors stayed on the sidelines during the National Day holidays. A stronger ringgit, palm's traded currency, makes the tropical oil less attractive to foreign buyers. It strengthened 0.2 percent to 4.1250 per dollar on Tuesday evening.
Benchmark palm oil futures for December on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange dropped 1.4 percent to 2,598 ringgit ($630) a tonne at the close of trade. Earlier in the session, it dipped to more than a two-week low of 2,577 ringgit. Traded volumes stood at 72,437 lots of 25 tonnes each in the evening, higher than the 2015 daily average of 44,600 lots.
"The market is range-bound trading due to the Chinese holiday, and we are tracking the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the ringgit's performance," said a trader from Kuala Lumpur, referring to rival oilseed soya on the CBOT. China's Dalian Commodity Exchange is closed this week for the National Day public holidays, which adds to the perception of lower market demand, said the trader, "but be on the lookout for the end-stocks figure. Later on, this could be the reason behind any rally." Palm oil inventories in Malaysia, the world's second-largest producer after Indonesia, fell to near a six-year low in August at 1.46 million tonnes.
Traders expect inventory levels for September to remain at around those levels as output and exports remain weak. Data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board is due on Monday. Palm oil is expected to fall to the September 14 low of 2,547 ringgit per tonne, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals. In related vegetable oils, the soyabean oil December contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.8 percent.