Palm down ahead of weekend

 

CPO FUTURES

CRUDE palm oil (CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed lower yesterday on profit-taking ahead of the weekend, dealers said.

They said the market, which has been on the uptrend for four consecutive days, failed to sustain its momentum to end the week lower.

Volume fell to 9,676 lots from 10,489 previously. December 2008 declined RM40 to RM1,610 a tonne and January 2009 decreased RM33 to RM1,625.

February 2009 lost RM28 to RM1,632 per tonne and March 2009 went down by RM30 to RM1,640.

Open interests dipped to 91,820 contracts from 92,789 previously.

On the physical market, December South was unchanged at RM1,670 per tonne.

RUBBER

THE Malaysian rubber market closed lower yesterday on lack of demand to extend its losses for the fifth consecutive day, dealers said.

“The market was relatively quiet and thin. We did not get buying interest, especially from China, as the buyers awaited a drop in local prices,” one of the dealers said.

He said though local prices were on the downtrend throughout the week, the market failed to attract buying interest as most traders felt that Malaysian rubber was still expensive when compared to that of other producing countries.

At noon, the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB) official physical price for tyre grade SMR 20 and latex in bulk decreased two sen each to close at 508.5 sen per kg and 382 sen per kg respectively.

The unofficial sellers’ closing price for tyre grade SMR 20 dropped seven sen to 504.5 sen per kg while latex in bulk declined by four sen to 379.5 sen per kg.

TIN

THE Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) closed easier yesterday tracking the downtrend of the commodity on the London Metal Exchange (LME), dealers said.

They said the local tin declined by US$50 to US$12,950 while on the LME, which normally influences the global price, saw the metal eased by US$400 to US$12,600 per tonne.

At the opening, buyers bid for 25 tonnes while sellers offered 31 tonnes with Japanese, European and local traders dominating the market.

Turnover on the KLTM, however, rose to 28 tonnes from 15 tonnes Thursday.

The price differential between KLTM and LME widened to a premium of US$620 per tonne compared with US$270 per tonne previously. - Bernama