* Palm sees losses at close of trade
* Market sees 2 pct weekly gain
* Rising ringgit, moderate Ramadan demand cap gains -trader
(Updates latest prices, adds quote)
By Emily Chow
KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 (Reuters) – Malaysian palm oil futures
fell at closing trade on Friday evening, weighed down by a
stronger ringgit which triggered some selling, but recorded its
first weekly gain in three on expectations of
lower-than-expected output and steady Ramadan demand.
The ringgit hit 4.0600 per dollar earlier in the
day, its strongest level in more than a week, before settling at
4.0760 on Friday evening.
A stronger ringgit, the currency of trade for palm oil,
makes it cheaper for holders of foreign currencies.
The palm oil contract for August delivery on the
Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange declined 0.8 percent to
reach 2,558 ringgit ($ 628) per tonne in the evening, after
hitting an intraday low of 2,555 ringgit.
Palm has gained for three out of five sessions so far this
week and was up 2 percent on the week, on track for its first
weekly gain in three weeks.
It rose 1.4 percent on Thursday.
Traded volumes stood at 51,908 lots of 25 tonnes each on
Friday evening, compared with a 2015 daily average of 44,600.
“The ringgit was stronger in the morning, which started some
profit-taking,” a trader from Kuala Lumpur said.
“Not helping is the demand side; we are sitting in the month
for Ramadan demand now but not seeing much activity.”
Another trader added that the market likely fell on
technical selling triggered by the stronger ringgit.
Demand for palm oil usually comes in one to two months
before Ramadan, which begins in early June this year. The Muslim
holy season is a month of fasting and feasting, which sees
higher demand for palm oil used in cooking.
Leading up to Ramadan, Malaysian palm oil shipments have
gained 8-11 percent over May 1-25 from last month, according to
cargo surveyor data.
Better demand for palm oil and lower-than-expected output
are expected to dent current stockpile levels, supporting
benchmark prices.
In competing vegetable oils, the Chicago Board of Trade
soyoil contract for July was up 0.7 percent, while the
September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange
fell 0.1 percent.
The offer price for crude palm kernel oil stood at 5026.52
ringgit per tonne (PKO-MYSTH-M1) in the evening, according to
price assessments by Thomson Reuters.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1038 GMT:
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL JUN6 2587 -31.00 2580 2621 836
MY PALM OIL JUL6 2587 -20.00 2581 2621 8117
MY PALM OIL AUG6 2558 -20.00 2555 2598 24363
CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP6 5228 +56.00 5118 5254 828580
CHINA SOYOIL SEP6 5890 -6.00 5832 5958 571734
CBOT SOY OIL JUL6 31.25 +0.64 30.91 31.38 7590
INDIA PALM OIL MAY6 533.20 +0.08 532.10 534.7 441
INDIA SOYOIL JUN6 641.15 +0.40 640.4 643.5 28170
NYMEX CRUDE JUL6 48.98 -0.50 48.83 49.47 64744
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 = 4.0760 ringgit)
($ 1 = 67.0350 Indian rupees)
($ 1 = 6.5597 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)
