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Crude palm oil futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed lower yesterday, weighed down by weakness in the Chicago soybean oil market, according to a trader.
David Ng, a trader at Iceberg X Sdn Bhd, said the stronger ringgit also dampened market sentiment. He told Bernama: "We are seeing support for crude palm oil above the 4,200 ringgit per tonne level, with resistance at 4,350 ringgit per tonne."
Meanwhile, Sathia Varqa, senior analyst at Fastmarkets Palm Oil Analytics, said palm oil futures pulled back on end-of-week profit-taking after surging earlier in the week to a three-month high.
He explained: "The most active April contract gained 143 ringgit compared with Monday's opening, or 3.43%, through Thursday, driven by short-term fundamentals of higher exports and lower production."
At the close, the February 2026 contract fell 60 ringgit to 4,160 ringgit per tonne, the March 2026 contract dropped 89 ringgit to 4,209 ringgit per tonne, and the April 2026 contract declined 88 ringgit to settle at 4,229 ringgit per tonne.
The May 2026 contract also slipped 84 ringgit to 4,228 ringgit per tonne, the June 2026 contract fell 79 ringgit to 4,213 ringgit per tonne, and the July 2026 contract lost 72 ringgit to 4,194 ringgit per tonne.
Trading volume fell to 84,668 lots from 97,561 lots on Thursday, while open interest rose to 220,712 contracts from 218,191 previously.
The physical price of crude palm oil for February (South) fell 40 ringgit to 4,200 ringgit per tonne.
Source: Bernama