VEGOILS-Palm hits 5-mth top on weaker ringgit, stronger soyoil
* Palm rises to intraday high of 2,288 rgt/T
* Market charts fourth day of gains
* Palm could gain on stronger exports - traders
(Updates with closing prices, quote)
By Emily Chow
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures
reversed earlier losses to rise to their highest in nearly five
months on Wednesday evening, charting a fourth day of gains, on
a weaker ringgit and tracking gains in U.S. soyoil on the
Chicago Board of Trade.
The market had earlier declined on overnight weakness in
crude oil prices and profit booking by investors.
The benchmark palm oil contract for April delivery
on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 0.9 percent to
2,283 ringgit ($552.12) a tonne at the close of trade.
It earlier rose as much as 1.1 percent to 2,288 ringgit, its
strongest levels since Sept. 6.
Trading volumes stood at 33,984 lots of 25 tonnes each at
the end of the trading day. (1FCPO-TOT)
"Strong externals and the weaker ringgit were supportive of
the market," said a Kuala Lumpur based futures trader, referring
to CBOT soyoil.
The ringgit, palm's traded currency, weakened as much as 0.2
percent against the dollar on Wednesday, making it cheaper for
foreign buyers. The ringgit was last down 0.1 percent at 4.1350.
Although the market was earlier down, another futures trader
had said it could firm up as palm oil export data so far showed
rising demand.
Malaysian palm oil shipments during Jan. 1-20 rose in the
range of 9-13 percent from a month earlier, according to cargo
surveyors Intertek Testing Services, AmSpec Agri Malaysia and
Societe Generale de Surveillance.
In related oils, the Chicago March soybean oil contract
rose 0.6 percent on Wednesday, while the May soybean oil
contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was slightly
up 0.04 percent.
Meanwhile, the Dalian January palm oil contract
gained 0.3 percent.
Palm oil prices are impacted by movements in soyoil rates,
as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oil market.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1108 GMT:
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL FEB9 2191 +28.00 2147 2194 372
MY PALM OIL MAR9 2251 +28.00 2210 2255 6804
MY PALM OIL APR9 2281 +20.00 2250 2288 15437
CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY9 4748 +12.00 4726 4784 412114
CHINA SOYOIL MAY9 5674 +2.00 5636 5714 390900
CBOT SOY OIL MAR9 29.24 +0.18 29.09 29.3 6746
INDIA PALM OIL JAN9 555.00 -2.30 554.70 558.5 458
INDIA SOYOIL FEB9 762.1 -5.05 762.1 772 11370
NYMEX CRUDE MAR9 53.46 +0.45 52.69 53.64 150140
Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1 = 4.1350 ringgit)
($1 = 71.3350 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.7869 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Emily Chow
Editing by Rashmi Aich/Keith Weir)