Malaysian palm oil futures pared most of early losses and rose on Friday ahead of a government data release, as polls forecast inventory levels in August falling to an over one-year low. The market was down in earlier trade weighed by weakness in overnight soyaoil on the US Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and a stronger ringgit, which typically makes the edible oil more expensive for holders of foreign currencies.
The benchmark palm oil contract for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was last up 1% at 2,203 ringgit per tonne in the evening, its strongest daily gains since Aug. 22. It earlier rose as much as 1.6% to 2,216 ringgit, but is down 1.4% for the week in a second weekly decline. "The market rose mainly on the polls," said a Kuala Lumpur- based trader, referring to a Reuters poll as well as industry analysts forecasts of Malaysia's palm oil data for the month of August.
Malaysian industry regulator, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, is scheduled to announce August data for inventory, production and export levels on Sept. 10 after 0430 GMT. A Reuters poll forecast that Malaysia's palm stockpiles would fall for a sixth consecutive month in August, down 7.1% to 2.22 million tonnes. Meanwhile, exports are seen rising 14.5% from July to 1.70 million tonnes and output is forecast at 1.77 million tonnes, up 1.8%.
In other related oils, US soyaoil futures on the CBOT fell 1.3% on Thursday, but was last up 0.2% on Friday. US soyabean futures fell more than 1% on Thursday on concerns about burdensome supplies and weak export demand as the US-China trade war drags on, analysts said. Meanwhile, the September soyaoil contract on the Dalian exchange was up 0.3% and the Dalian January palm oil contract slightly fell 0.1%.