Palm oil up

Kuala Lumpur : Malaysian palm oil futures rose slightly in early trade on Thursday and hit a one-week top on short-covering and expectation of higher demand ahead of Ramadan.

The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was 0.1 percent higher at 2,443 ringgit ($624.49) a tonne at the midday break, after three consecutive sessions of gains. It rose to its strongest level since March 7 at 2,447 ringgit earlier in the session, and has gained nearly 4 percent since it hit a more than one-and-a-half-year low on Monday.

Trading volumes stood at 26,333 lots of 25 tonnes each on Thursday noon.

"With current low prices, there's a window of opportunity for buying," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader. The market could also be up on expectation that demand will improve ahead of the Ramadan fasting month, said another trader.