RTRS:VEGOILS-Palm oil barely moves on bleak global economic outlook
* Market watching economic developments in the U.S. and
Europe
* Exports for Sept. 1-20 fell but have started to bottom out
(Updates prices)
By Niluksi Koswanage
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil barely
moved on Wednesday as investors grew wary over attempts to
resolve Europe's debt crisis and shore up the U.S. economy
against a slide back into recession -- factors that can stall
global commodity demand.
Palm oil prices have been see-sawing in September, torn
between the bleak global economic outlook and prospects of
strong demand ahead of key public holidays in top buyers India
and China next month.
"When palm oil goes below 3,000 ringgit, there is no
follow-through selling. When it goes above 3,000 ringgit there
is no follow-through buying. The keyword is caution," said a
trader with a foreign brokerage in Malaysia.
Benchmark December palm oil FCPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia
Derivatives Exchange shed 1 ringgit to end at 3,066 ringgit
($982.85) per tonne.
Overall volumes were light, with 21,933 lots of 25 tonnes
each changing hands, compared to the usual 25,000 lots.
Reuters analyst Wang Tao forecast prices would be
technically neutral as long as palm oil remains in a range of
3,000-3,083 ringgit per tonne.
Palm oil has lost almost 20 percent so far this year on high
stocks and a slowdown in demand after the Muslim Eid festival in
late August.
But last minute orders are likely to pour in ahead of
India's Diwali festival in late October and China's Golden Week
holiday early next month.
Exports are starting to show a recovery trend. Malaysia's
Sept. 1-20 palm oil exports fell 16.4 percent to 978,087 tonnes
from 1,170,226 tonnes shipped during Aug. 1-20, cargo surveyor
Intertek Testing Services said on Tuesday.
That is in comparison to exports in the first ten days of
September dropping 36.4 percent to 377,038 tonnes from the same
period a month ago.
Brent crude futures pushed slightly higher on Wednesday but
moves were muted as investors awaited a U.S. Federal Reserve
policy meeting in which the bank is expected to announce further
steps to stimulate the economy.
U.S. soyoil for October delivery rose 0.3 percent
during Asian hours as concerns of drought in the U.S. Plains
spurred some buying. The most active May 2012 soybean oil
contract on China's Dalian Exchange fell.
Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
Dalian soy oil in Chinese yuan per tonne
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1 = 3.119 Malaysian Ringgit)
(Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
((niki.koswanage@thomsonreuters.com)(+603 2333 8035)(Reuters
Messaging:)(niki.koswanage.thomsonreuters.com@thomsonreuters.net
)
