* Lower output data, short-covering lend support – trader
* Palm posts weekly gain of 1.4 pct after last week’s 3.6
pct fall
(Updates latest prices, quote)
By Emily Chow
KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 (Reuters) – Malaysian palm oil futures
closed marginally lower on Friday, posting their first drop in
three sessions as falls in competing vegetable oils weighed, but
found some support from industry data showing lower production
and short-covering by traders.
The palm oil contract for July delivery on the
Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 0.04 percent lower at
2,628 ringgit ($ 656) per tonne.
It gained 1.3 percent this week after last week’s 3.6
percent fall, its steepest weekly drop since early October.
Palm oil rose in the previous two sessions, posting its
sharpest jump in nearly five months on Wednesday as traders
covered short positions after four sessions of losses and as the
ringgit sunk to a five-week low.
Traded volumes were 55,038 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher
than the 2015 daily average of 44,600.
“There’s some short covering towards the weekend, and
production figures from the Southern Palm Oil Millers
Association (SPPOMA) are 18 percent lower,” said a trader from
Kuala Lumpur, referring to data from a Malaysian millers
association for the first five days of May.
In competing vegetable oils, the September soybean oil
contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 1.3
percent, while the Chicago Board of Trade soyoil contract for
July rose 0.5 percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1022 GMT:
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL MAY6 2635 +20.00 2569 2641 371
MY PALM OIL JUN6 2638 +5.00 2589 2638 5841
MY PALM OIL JUL6 2632 +3.00 2582 2632 29995
CHINA PALM SEP6 5352 -122.00 5276 5502 1042572
OLEIN
CHINA SOYOIL SEP6 6104 -82.00 6044 6234 744504
CBOT SOY OIL JUL6 32.42 -0.50 32.01 32.5 7818
INDIA PALM OIL MAY6 551.60 -0.50 547.50 552.9 1406
INDIA SOYOIL MAY6 641.5 -1.00 637.5 642.5 12150
NYMEX CRUDE JUN6 44.03 -0.29 43.66 44.59 89880
Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($ 1 = 4.0060 ringgit)
($ 1 = 66.5750 Indian rupees)
($ 1 = 6.4980 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
