Crude palm oil futures end higher in choppy trade

CRUDE palm oil (CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed lower on lack of fresh leads, yesterday dealers said.

The market, which rebounded slightly at mid-day, saw no follow-through amid expectation of a weak production report for September to be released later this week.
FCPO prices ended little changed in choppy trade Monday, unable to sustain earlier gains due to a slight easing in demand in the cash market and to liquidation of speculative long positions, trade participants said.

Weak production, coupled with expectation of lower exports for first 10 days of October, will cause further pressure on local prices throughout the week, the dealers said. The two cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance are expected to release the October 1-10 export data next week.

ECM Libra Investment Research in a research note said the month of September, coinciding with the Hari Raya holidays, would have seen less harvesting.
“Our expectation is that there would not be any significant increase in stock levels,” the research firm said.
At close, the CPO futures for October 2009 fell RM30 to RM2,100 per tonne, November 2009 added RM7 to RM2,055 , December 2009 gained RM5 to RM2,042 and January 2010 went up RM3 to RM2,043.
Volume increased to 12,331 lots from 9,451 lots last Friday and open interest rose to 94,984 contracts from 94,276 contracts previously.