Malaysian palm oil futures on Tuesday dipped to their lowest in a month, tracking weaker performing soyaoil on the Chicago Board of Trade. The benchmark palm oil contract for August delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.5 percent at 2,504 ringgit ($584.91) a tonne at the close of trade. It earlier touched 2,475 ringgit, its lowest since April 25, charting a third straight session of declines. Traded volumes stood at 48,965 lots of 25 tonnes each on Tuesday evening.
"Soyabean oil came off on Friday and also on overnight trade," said a Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader. He said a fading demand for palm oil once Ramazan fasting begins was also leading to market to decline. Buyers usually stock up on the tropical oil a month ahead of Ramazan, hence demand slows once the fasting begins. Palm oil also takes direction from related edible oil soya as they compete for a share of the global vegetable oils market. Soyabean oil on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.3 percent, while China's Dalian Commodity Exchange is closed for a public holiday. The August palm oil contract may try to stabilize in a support zone of 2,496-2,506 ringgit per tonne, and then bounce towards a resistance 2,539 ringgit, according to Reuters analyst for commodities and energy technicals Wang Tao.