Monday, 13 July 2015 16:52
NEW DELHI: Malaysian palm oil futures were mostly unchanged on Monday, after sliding to a six-week low last week, with a steep decline in exports keeping a lid on the market.
Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for July 1-10 fell 34.7 percent to 308,875 tonnes from 473,307 tonnes shipped June 1-10, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said on Friday.
Data from cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services earlier showed a 32.5 percent decline in exports during the period.
“We saw a huge decline in exports and this is likely to continue for the next few months,” said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader. “There are no bullish factors in the market and trading is thin ahead of the long weekend break.”
The September palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange gained 0.05 percent, or 1 ringgit, to 2,195 ringgit per tonne by the close.
Traded volume stood at 16,128 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 12,000-14,000 during early trade. Trading is expected to remain slow this week ahead of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month.
Palm oil may retest support at 2,139 ringgit, according to Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities technicals.
The support is provided by a 76.4 percent Fibonacci retracement on the uptrend from a April 29 low of 2,070 ringgit to a June 8 high of 2,362 ringgit.
In other markets, crude oil fell as Iran and six world powers appeared close to a nuclear deal.
