KUALA LUMPUR

Crude palm oil (CPO) futures prices are expected to trade lower in the range of between RM2,500 and RM2,610 this week and amid a cautious trading environment, said Interband Group of Companies senior palm oil trader, Jim Teh.

“Everyone (market players) is leaving for the long public holiday break and the current situation where production in August, which is likely be higher-than-expected, will make them cautious in taking any position,” he told Bernama.

He said, nevertheless, the pre-buying momentum for the Deepavali festival might help lend support to the CPO price this week, and help lessen the country’s growing stockpile.

For the week just ended, the local market was only traded for three days as it was closed last Thursday and Friday for the National Day and Hari Raya Haji holidays, respectively.

The CPO price was mainly influenced by market sentiment, which was mainly weighed on by the production outlook, ringgit’s performance, as well as worries over North Korea’s missile launch over Japan.

On a Friday-to-Wednesday basis, September 2017 fell RM53 to RM2,680 per tonne, as both October 2017 and November 2017 lost RM44 each to RM2,695 and RM2,706 per tonne respectively, while December 2017 eased RM43 to RM2,717 per tonne.

Weekly turnover was relatively lower at 106,518 lots compared to the 302,901 lots recorded the previous week, while open interest narrowed to 249,441 contracts from 271,066 contracts.

On the physical market, September South trimmed RM30 to RM2,710 per tonne against the previous week’s RM2,740 per tonne.