CPO futures retreat from peaks
Business Times
Tuesday - October 30, 2007
Malaysian crude palm oil futures fell 1.8 per cent today, retreating from their latest record high as soyoil and crude oil prices eased in Asian trade, spurring players to cash in profits.
Traders said the market waited for palm oil exports data for October, due to be unveiled by cargo surveyors tomorrow, to gauge the demand for the commodity.
By the mid-day break, the benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down RM52 at RM2,858 per tonne.
Palm oil, which struck its fourth record high at RM2,920 the previous day, has been driven by bullish soyoil and crude markets, moves by rival producer Indonesia to raise export taxes and talk of China slashing import duties for vegetable oils.
“Players were getting reluctant to trade palm oil at such high prices so the weakness in crude and soyoil was a right excuse to take profit and bring down the market to more comfortable levels,” said a dealer with a foreign trading firm.
Other traded months fell between RM52 and RM64. Overall volume stood at 7,098 lots of 25 tonnes each.
Oil prices fell nearly 1 per cent to below US$93 a barrel today, retreating from record highs as investors took profits from a rally fuelled by a Mexican supply outage and the falling dollar.
US crude fell by 77 cents to US$92.76 a barrel by 0520 GMT after hitting a record high of US$93.80 in the previous session.
December soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade fell more than 0.9 per cent to 41.81 cents per pound at 0520 GMT today. - Reuters
