Palm futures lower at close

CPO FUTURES

KUALA LUMPUR: Crude palm oil futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed lower yesterday, on concerns of a slowdown in demand, a trader said.

Interband Group Senior Palm Oil Trader Jim Teh said competition from other vegetable oils also weighed down the prices.

March 2013 fell RM2 to RM2,479 a tonne, April 2013 lost RM4 to RM2,506, May 2013 slipped RM4 to RM2,532 and June 2013 was RM3 lower at RM2,550 a tonne.

Turnover rose to 20,589 lots from 16,996 lots, while open interest improved to 186,706 from 182,323 contracts.

On the physical market, February South added RM20 to RM2,460 a tonne.

OIL

LONDON: Oil rose yesterday as evidence of improving business morale in Germany helped bolster sentiment after two days of heavy losses.

“The price drop was fundamentally not justified and we will see higher prices in the upcoming weeks,” said Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

Brent crude for April rose US$1.26 (US$1.00 = RM3.08) per barrel to a high of US$114.79 before easing back to around US$114.25 by 1025GMT.

Meanwhile, US crude was at US$92.94, up 10 cents, after hitting a six-week low in the previous session.

RUBBER

KUALA LUMPUR: The local rubber market closed mixed in quiet trading yesterday, prompted by weakening of the ringgit against the US dollar, a dealer said.

He said the market was also quiet in line with the weaker performance in the Tokyo Futures Market in response to the weakening economies in the US and Europe.

At noon, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s official physical price for tyre-grade SMR20 was 3.5 sen lower at 905.5 sen, while latex-in-bulk gained 0.5 sen to 619.5 sen a kg.

The unofficial closing price for tyre-grade SMR20 closed at 908.5 sen a kg, up by 7.5 sen and latex-in-bulk increased by one sen to close at 619.5 sen a kg.

GOLD

LONDON: Gold firmed yesterday, helped by a recovery in assets seen as higher risk after stronger-than-expected German economic data and on concerns that this week’s selling may have been overdone.

Spot gold was up 0.4 per cent to US$1,581.26 an ounce by 1043 GMT, its second week in the red. It fell to a seven-month low of US$1,554.49 on Thursday after the US Fed hinted that it might stop its bond buying programme.

“What we are seeing today is just a bit of rebound on the back of a sharp correction in gold and other commodities,” Danske Bank analyst Christin Tuxen said.

TIN

KUALA LUMPUR: Tin price on the Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) continued its downtrend yesterday to close US$500 lower at US$23,250 a tonne following the sharp drop on the London Metal Exchange (LME), a dealer said.

The metal's price on the LME fell by US$630 to US$23,100 a tonne.
"The fall in the local market is less than the LME due to some sellers withdrawing their offer following the price slide, coupled with some scattered buying at the lower level.

"Today's price hit nine weeks low after touching US$23,170 a tonne on Dec 17 last year," he added.

At the opening bell, bids stood at 10 tonnes against 93 tonnes offered, with Japanese, European and local players dominating trading.

Turnover rose to 43 tonnes from 25 tonnes on Thursday. The premium between the KLTM and the LME widened to US$580 a tonne against US$450 a tonne Thursday. - Agencies