Palm oil drops

Kuala Lumpur : Malaysian palm oil futures fell over one percent in early trade on Thursday, as a stronger ringgit and overnight falls in soy oil on the Chicago Board of Trade weighed on the market.

Gains in the ringgit, palm’s currency of trade, usually makes the tropical oil more expensive for foreign buyers.

The ringgit had strengthened 0.4 percent to 3.9880 per dollar by noon.

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down 1.1 percent at 2,594 ringgit ($650.45) a tonne at the midday break.

Trading volumes stood at 15,067 lots of 25 tonnes each at the midday break.

“Palm is down mirroring weakness in overnight soy oil and current strength in the ringgit,” said a trader from Kuala Lumpur.

Another trader said higher inventories also weighed on the market, which would trade range bound until export data indicated a clearer trend.