Palm oil on the European vegetable oils market was mostly firmer on Friday, underpinned by a stronger ringgit which makes palm oil more expensive for foreign buyers. Asking prices for palm oil were mostly between unchanged and $5 a tonne up from Thursday after Malaysian palm oil futures closed between nine and three ringgit per tonne lower due to weakness in other oils and because of the stronger ringgit, which could dampen export demand.
"All in all it was a slow day ... without many fresh leads and most of the market not moving much either way," one broker said. At 1600 GMT, CBOT soyaoil futures were between 0.08 and 0.26 cents per lb down on end-of-week profit taking and because of weaker energy markets. EU rapeoil was mostly quoted between unchanged and one euro per tonne lower, tracking weaker Chicago soyaoil futures and because of technical selling in rapeseed futures. Lower energy markets also weighed as they could slow demand for rapeoil from biodiesel producers. Lauric oils were offered between $5 and $50 a tonne up from Thursday, without finding any buyers. The spread between coconut oil and cheaper palmkernel oil was $585 a tonne for August-September shipment.