KL palm oil down on short covering interest

KL palm oil down on short covering interest

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysian palm oil futures closed off their lows on Thursday on short covering interest, helped by private forecaster Ivan Wong's projection of lower stocks at the end of December, traders said.

The benchmark third-month March futures contract ended down five ringgit at 785 ringgit ($206.58) a ton after trading as low as 780.

Overnight losses in Chicago soyoil futures had weighed on early prices.

Wong said Malaysian palm oil stocks were expected to drop to 1.475 million tons at end-December from a record 1.52 million tons at end-November.

He said output was expected to fall by 19 percent to 950,000 tons in December from a month earlier, while exports in December were estimated at 835,000 tons against 890,068 in November.

"There has been speculation that stocks could stay above 1.5 million tons in December, so the Ivan Wong figures have helped sentiment a bit," said one trader.

But he said there could be some pressure on prices on Friday as players square their positions ahead of the holidays.

The Commodity and Monetary Exchange of Malaysia (Commex) will be closed from December 25 to January 1, for Christmas, the Muslim Idul Fitri and New Year holidays.

Physical December (south) crude palm oil was offered at 715 ringgit a ton against bids of 710, and trade was done at 710.

January (south) crude palm oil was offered at 725 ringgit against bids of 715, and traded at 715 to 720.

Among refined products, January RBD palm oil was offered at $207.50 a ton FOB and February at $217.50.

There were offers for January RBD olein at $217.50 and February at $227.50.

January RBD palm stearin was offered at $192.50 and January palm fatty acid distillate at $165.