Palm futures weaker at close - Business Times

CPO FUTURES

CRUDE palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives contracted to close lower, taking the cue from other oil markets and some by profit-taking activities yesterday, dealers said.

Talks that China would impose a food import tax also weighed heavily on sentiment as such a move will result in CPO prices declining significantly.

March 2011 dropped RM33 to RM3,755 per tonne, April 2011 fell RM47 to RM3,734, May 2011 erased RM38 to RM3,683 and June 2011 fell RM50 to RM3,630.

"Some people say this (price fall) has happened because of an increase in palm oil supply, but it wouldn't affect prices this much," said Leonardo Gavaza, an analyst at Bahana Securities.

"The trigger should be the Chinese government policy (talk)," he added. "If it does happen, the price of CPO will decrease significantly."

Turnover decreased to 30,420 lots from 34,151 lots on Thursday while open interest rose to 108,046 contracts, from 102,293 contracts on Thursday.

On the physical market, Feb South declined RM20 to RM3,770 per tonne.

RUBBER

MALAYSIAN rubber hit an all-time high of 1,734 sen per kg inline with the firmer rubber futures contract prices on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM), a dealer said.

“Rubber futures at TOCOM rebounded on a bullish technical outlook due to supply concerns,” he said.

The Malaysian Rubber Board’s noon official physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20 increased 11 sen to 1,734 sen per kg while latex-in-bulk added 5.5 sen to 1,079.5 sen per kg.

While the unofficial sellers’ closing price for tyre-grade SMR 20 decreased 2.5 sen to 1,727.5 sen per kg, the latex-in-bulk added 8.5 sen to 1,086 sen per kg.

TIN

THE Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) closed sharply lower yesterday by US$600 (US$1.00 = RM3.04) per tonne to US$31,900 per tonne due to a techincal correction and in line with the downtrend on the London Metal Exchange (LME), a dealer said.

The tin price on the London Metal Exchange (LME), which influences global prices, was down overnight by US$850 to US$31,650 per tonne.

At opening bell on the KLTM, buyers bid for 20 tonnes, while sellers offered 100 tonnes. Turnover remained at 40 tonnes from Thursday with the participation of European and local traders.

The price differential between the KLTM and LME widened to a premium of US$715 a tonne from US$465 a tonne on Thursday. - Agencies