CPO futures mart loses ground
Business Times
Saturday - November 15, 2008
CPO FUTURES
Crude palm oil (CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Bhd were mostly lower at close yesterday, as the market players continued to monitor the crude oil market movement, dealers said.
They said that the benchmark third-month January 2009 contract was down RM25 to settle at RM1,455 a tonne.
A dealer said despite a recovery in crude oil, the market lost ground amid concerns that demand would slow down with mounting stockpiles.
“Fundamentally, the market is bearish because the production is good but the demand is not picking up,” the dealer added.
The dealer also noted that the volatile crude oil market is putting more pressure on the palm oil price, adding, due to the uncertainties, mild profit-taking was in place.
For the CPO contract prices, November 2008 increased RM11 to RM1,472 per tonne.
However, for December 2008, January 2009 and February 2009, the contract months dropped RM16, RM25 and RM17 to settle at RM1,449, RM1,455 and RM1,460 per tonne respectively.
Turnover went down to 9,812 lots from Thursday 13,001 lots while open interests decreased to 87,004 contracts from 91,466 previously.
On the physical market, November South was quoted at RM1,470 per tonne, slightly higher from the RM1,465 per tonne recorded on Thursday.
The US dollar-denominated palm oil futures were untraded yesterday.
