Palm futures mixed on lukewarm response

CPO FUTURESM

KUALA LUMPUR:LONDON: Crude palm oil (CPO) futures contracts on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed mixed yesterday following lukewarm forecast by leading industry analyst, Dorab Mistry, on CPO prices this year.

March 2013 rose RM1 to RM2,386 a tonne, April 2013 added RM4 to RM2,391, while May 2013 was unchanged at RM2,399, but June 2013 was RM1 lower at RM2,407.

Turnover advanced to 20,945 lots from 19,877 lots while open interest rose to 186,533 contracts from 185,624 contracts previously.

On the physical market, March South was unchanged at RM2,390 a tonne.

OIL

LONDON: Brent crude oil steadied above US$111 (US$1.00 = RM3.09) per barrel yesterday, supported by buoyant stock markets which gained on positive economic news from the United States.

Signs of a strengthening US economy and continued support from the Federal Reserve pushed European stock indices to their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.

Brent crude futures slipped 22 cents to US$111.39 a barrel by 1222GMT, off an earlier high of US$112.23. US light crude oil lost 19 cents to US$90.63.

Analysts looked for US economic data to impact oil.

RUBBER

KUALA LUMPUR: Rubber prices closed higher yesterday in line with the uptrend in rubber prices on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, dealers said.

A dealer said rubber prices gained support after China set its gross domestic product target at 7.5 per cent for this year, raising hopes for more buying interest for the commodity.

At noon, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s official physical price for tyre-grade SMR20 rose 1.5 sen to 888 sen per kg but latex-in-bulk was unchanged at 618 sen per kg.

The unofficial closing price for tyre-grade SMR20 earned half-a-sen to 888.5 sen per kg and latex-in-bulk rose half-a-sen to 618.5 sen per kg.

GOLD

LONDON: Gold steadied yesterday, underpinned by expectations central banks would maintain ultra-loose monetary policy, but struggling for fresh gains as investors favoured higher-yielding assets.

Spot gold has fallen nearly six per cent so far this year and is down about 18 per cent from a record high of US$1,920.30 an ounce hit in September 2011.

Silver was flat at US$28.67 an ounce. Spot platinum was little changed at US$1,585.99 an ounce, while spot palladium was up 0.2 per cent at US$735.22 an ounce.

TIN

KUALA LUMPUR: Tin price on the Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) closed lower yesterday at US$23,440 a tonne, down by US$10 due to mild buying interest, dealers said.

However, on the London Metal Exchange (LME), tin price rose by US$80 to US$23,455 a tonne.

At the opening bell, offers outnumbered bids by 48 tonnes to 26 tonnes. Turnover was higher at 31 tonnes from Tuesday's 24 tonnes, with European, Japanese and local traders dominating trade.

The premium between the KLTM and the LME narrowed to US$415 a tonne from US$505 a tonne on Tuesday. - Agencies