* Palm down nearly 1 percent for the week
* Market holding off ahead of long weekend, pending data
next week – trader
* Palm oil may slide into 2,450-2,477 rgt/T range –
technicals
(Updates with closing prices)
By Emily Chow
KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 (Reuters) – Malaysian palm oil
futures were slightly higher on Friday evening, reversing losses
from earlier in the day due to low demand, pending the release
of data and ahead of a long weekend.
The market will be closed on Monday for Labour Day public
holiday.
The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery
on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.1 percent at
2,508 ringgit ($ 578.01) a tonne by the end of the trading day.
The market is down 0.9 percent for the week, charting a third
consecutive weekly fall.
Traded volumes stood at 33,832 lots of 25 tonnes each on
Friday evening.
“The market is seeing a sideways trading day,” said a
futures trader, as traders held off ahead of data on exports
from cargo surveyors and a Reuters poll forecasting Malaysian
April production, end-stocks and exports, both scheduled for
release next week.
End-stocks could rise further and dampen benchmark palm oil
prices, as production in the world’s second-largest producer is
expected to rise on seasonal trend while the effects of a
crop-damaging El Nino have started to wear off.
Demand for palm oil declined in the April 1-25 period on
weaker exports to India, according to cargo surveyor data.
Shipments fell 1.2 percent, showed Societe Generale de
Surveillance while Intertek Testing Services reported a 3.4
percent decline.
In related vegetable oils, soybean oil on the Chicago
Board of Trade climbed 0.1 percent, while the September soybean
oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange slipped
up to 0.8 percent.
The September contract for palm olein gained 0.04
percent.
Palm oil prices are impacted by movements in other related
edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable
oils market.
Palm oil may slide into a range of 2,450-2,477 ringgit per
tonne, following its failure to break a resistance at 2,542
ringgit, said Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy
technicals Wang Tao.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1050 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL MAY7 2700 +34.00 2635 2700 400
MY PALM OIL JUN7 2582 +12.00 2560 2600 3337
MY PALM OIL JUL7 2505 +2.00 2485 2523 18959
CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP7 5178 +2.00 5122 5186 364144
CHINA SOYOIL SEP7 5820 -48.00 5804 5844 463372
CBOT SOY OIL JUL7 31.99 -0.09 31.88 32.07 5210
INDIA PALM OIL APR7 516.60 -0.20 516.10 517.2 220
INDIA SOYOIL MAY7 611.6 +5.55 606.35 613 21500
NYMEX CRUDE JUN7 49.38 +0.41 49.13 49.63 110240
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 = 4.3390 ringgit)
($ 1 = 64.3250 Indian rupees)
($ 1 = 6.8940 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and
David Evans)
