Palm oil tumbles

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell in Friday´s morning session, dropping back from a 6-1/2-month high hit in the previous session as a strengthening ringgit dragged on the tropical oil.

The benchmark palm oil contract for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange dropped 0.5 percent to 2,768 ringgit ($661.73) by the midday break. Trading volumes were thin, at 18,852 lots of 25 tonnes each.

A Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader said while the ringgit was a driving factor, trading was also slow as the market awaits production data and an industry conference next week.

"Trading seems slow ahead of next week´s data and the Globoil India conference. The market is lower today mostly on the further jump in ringgit," the trader said. —Reuters