Malaysian palm oil futures snapped their winning streak on Thursday, with traders pointing to profit-taking that added to price pressure from weakness in US soyaoil. The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 0.4 percent at 2,549 ringgit ($648.84) a tonne at the close of trade, snapping five days of gains.
It earlier rose to 2,568 ringgit, its highest since January 11. Trading volumes stood at 34,658 lots of 25 tonnes each at the end of the trading day. "The market is seeing some profit-taking after the recent rally. Soyabean oil also looks weak," said one Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader.
The market had earlier risen on firm demand, traders said. Palm oil demand in Malaysia had climbed 6 percent month on month in January to 1.5 million tonnes, though recent cargo surveyor data suggests that shipments have fallen in February. Societe Generale de Surveillance reported on Wednesday that Malaysia's palm oil exports fell 11 percent in February to 1.16 million tonnes, down from 1.31 million tonnes the previous month.
In related oils, the Chicago Board of Trade's May soyabean oil contract edged down 0.1 percent while May soyabean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange rose by 0.4 percent. The Dalian May palm oil contract was up 0.9 percent. Palm oil prices are affected by movements in rival edible oils that compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.