Palm oil set for first daily gain after four-day losing streak

Malaysian palm oil futures climbed 2.54% on Tuesday, rebounding from their lowest close in more than three weeks marked in the previous session, as they tracked gains in rival oils on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the Dalian Commodity Exchange.

The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for August delivery climbed 3% in the morning session, before paring some of the gains to trade at 3,989 ringgit ($962.83) a tonne by midday break. The index is set to deliver its first daily gain after four consecutive day of losses.

“Morning opening of both soybean oil and Dalian brought back some buyers on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives CPO,” a Kuala Lumpur-based trader told Reuters.

However, the trader noted that physical buying from India – the world’s top vegetable oil importer – was “very very poor”.

The contract slumped 11% last week, the sharpest in a year, as a resurgence in COVID-19 cases and lockdown measures in India hit demand.

CBOT soyoil prices BOcv1 up 1.4% on Tuesday, while prices for Dalian’s soyoil contract DBYcv1 and palm oil contract DCPcv1 increased 1.14% and 0.34%, respectively.

Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

The Malaysian markets will be closed for public holiday on Wednesday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Bernadette Christina; Editing by Ramakrishnan M. and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)