Palm oil down

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures fell sharply in early trade on Thursday, tracking weakness in rival edible oilseeds and set for a second straight day of losses.

The benchmark palm oil contract for December delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 1.8 percent to 2,698 ringgit ($637.83) a tonne at the midday break, its sharpest decline since Sept. 18.

Traded volumes stood at 26,797 lots of 25 tonnes each at noon. "The heavy drop in China palm olein and weakness in rival oilseed soy dampened market sentiment," said a Kuala Lumpur based futures trader, referring to palm olein on China´s Dalian Commodity Exchange and soyoil on the U.S. Chicago Board of Trade.