KUALA LUMPUR, The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives (BMD) closed lower today on weak demand, dealers said.
Mumbai-based Sunvin Group commodity research head Anilkumar Bagani said the CPO futures contracts traded range-bound for most of the day but ended lower in the absence of a fresh catalyst ahead of the Chinese New Year break.
“The lack of major fresh buying from destination markets is also slowing down the CPO price movement,” he told Bernama.
Palm oil trader David Ng said a news report that India may impose an export duty on palm oil would make the commodity less attractive, affecting overall demand for CPO.
“We locate support at RM3,500 and resistance at RM4,000 per tonne,” he added.
At the close, the February 2023 contract fell RM56 to RM3,790 per tonne, March 2023 was RM62 lower at RM3,788 per tonne and April 2023 slipped RM57 to RM3,795 per tonne.
The May 2023 note lost RM59 to RM3,800 per tonne, June 2023 weakened RM54 to RM3,803 per tonne while July 2023 dropped RM57 to RM3,798 per tonne.
Total volume climbed to 52,046 lots from 34,812 lots on Monday, while open interest eased to 188,433 contracts from 190,241 contracts previously.
The physical CPO price for January South fell RM50 to settle at RM3,850 per tonne.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency