Palm futures rise on restocking - Business Times

CPO FUTURES
CRUDE palm oil futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed firmer yesterday on restocking activities, amid a tightening supply, dealers said.

At the close, February rose RM16 to RM3,982 a tonne, March increased RM16 to RM3,970, April improved RM29 to RM3,955 and May gained RM18 to RM3,906.

Turnover declined to 24,092 lots from 35,028 lots on Thursday while open interests increased to 98,830 contracts from 90,858 previously.

On the physical market, February South increased to RM3,980 compared with RM3,970 previously.

RUBBER
RUBBER prices hit a fresh high in a very firm market yesterday, with SMR 20 and latex-in-bulk garnering global interest, dealers said.

A dealer said rising demand as opposed to supply shortage, made the highly sought commodity extend gains.

At noon, the Malaysian Rubber Board official physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20 rose 12 sen to 1,717.5 sen a kg while latex-in-bulk rose 6 sen to 1,056.0 sen.

Meanwhile, the unofficial seller closing price for tyre-grade SMR 20 added 4 sen to 1,717.5 sen while latex-in-bulk gained 5 sen to 1,058.5 sen.

TIN
THE Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) reached a fresh all-time high yesterday, to close at US$31,500 (US$1.00 = RM3.05), up US$100 per tonne, amid a tightening supply, dealers said.

They said the market saw active participation from overseas buyers, especially the Europeans.

A dealer said the uptrend was also in line with London Metal Exchange, which also hit a new high of US$31,500 per tonne, up US$240, amid worries about supply from Indonesia.

"The market also saw participation from the Japanese and local traders," he said. KLTM turnover, however, was unchanged at 70 tonnes.

At the opening bell, buyers bid for 116 tonnes, while sellers offered 30 tonnes. The premium between the KLTM and the LME narrowed to US$420 per tonne from Thursday's US$560 per tonne. - Bernama