* Palm sees third session of declines in four
* China weakness hits sentiment – trader
* Stronger ringgit also weighs on market
(Updates latest prices)
By Emily Chow
KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 (Reuters) – Malaysian palm oil futures
hit their lowest level in nearly three months on Monday, dragged
down by losses in Chinese vegetable oils, while a stronger
ringgit also weighed on sentiment earlier in the day.
The palm oil contract for August delivery on the
Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had fallen 1.4 percent to
2,492 ringgit ($ 610) per tonne by the closing trade, posting its
third loss in the past four sessions.
Earlier in the day, the contract fell as much as 2.1 percent
to 2,475 ringgit, its lowest since March 3. Last week, palm
posted its second consecutive weekly decline, weighed down by
the sell-off in Chinese commodities markets.
Traded volumes stood at 52,089 lots of 25 tonnes each on
Monday evening compared with the 2015 daily average of 44,600.
“Palm is kept down by external markets, Dalian’s RBD
(refined, bleached and deodorized) palm olein has continuously
been under pressure,” said a trader based in Kuala Lumpur.
The most actively traded September contract for
palm olein on the Dalian Commodity Exchange dropped 2.2 percent
on Monday.
The ringgit rose on Monday morning before falling
slightly by 0.2 percent to 4.0840 per dollar. A stronger ringgit
make palm more expensive for holders of foreign currencies.
In other vegetable oils, the Chicago Board of Trade soyoil
contract for August fell 0.8 percent, while the September
soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange
dropped 2.4 percent.
The offer price for crude palm kernel oil stood at 4,828
ringgit per tonne (PKO-MYSTH-M1) in the evening, according to
price assessments by Thomson Reuters.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1035 GMT:
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL JUN6 2520 -38.00 2507 2537 572
MY PALM OIL JUL6 2523 -33.00 2496 2525 9090
MY PALM OIL AUG6 2495 -36.00 2475 2506 25596
CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP6 4990 -114.00 4932 5170 965802
CHINA SOYOIL SEP6 5738 -140.00 5680 5930 874884
CBOT SOY OIL JUL6 31.02 -1.60 30.79 31.41 11773
INDIA PALM OIL MAY6 529.00 -1.60 526.10 531.2 372
INDIA SOYOIL JUN6 637.8 -0.80 634.7 639.5 35070
NYMEX CRUDE JUL6 47.81 -0.60 47.67 48.50 76827
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 = 4.0840 ringgit)
($ 1 = 67.4400 Indian rupees)
($ 1 = 6.5520 Chinese yuan)
(Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and David Clarke)
