Malaysian palm oil futures rebounded from losses to gain over 1 percent at the end of the trading day on Tuesday, snapping six days of losses, lifted by profit-taking and gains in soyaoil on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 1.7 percent to 2,408 ringgit ($619.26) a tonne at the close of trade, its strongest daily gain since the start of the year.
The market earlier fell to 2,354 ringgit, its lowest level since March 12, before rising as much as 2.7 percent to 2,434 ringgit in the evening. Trading volumes stood at 68,249 lots of 25 tonnes each. "The market was oversold following six earlier days of losses," said a palm oil futures trader based in Kuala Lumpur, adding that a recovery in CBOT soyaoil also aided palm oil.
Palm oil prices are affected by movements in rival edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market. The Chicago Board of Trade's May soyabean oil contract was last up 0.6 percent. Palm oil had declined in recent days on expectations of slowing demand growth. Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for April 1-15 rose 5 to 6 percent from the corresponding period in March, according to inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia and cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance.
This however represents slower demand growth compared with the 25 to 32 percent gains seen in the April 1-10 period. In other related oils, May soyabean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 0.3 percent, while the Dalian May palm oil contract dropped 1 percent.