KUALA LUMPUR: The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to trade with an upward bias next week, a dealer said.

Palm oil trader David Ng said the support is located at RM4,700 a tonne and resistance at RM4,950 a tonne.

“The price is expected to remain steady in the near term on concerns over weaker production,” he told Bernama.

On Friday, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) announced that the local CPO stocks for November 2021 fell 4.45 per cent to 942,354 tonnes from 986,239 tonnes in the previous month on lower production while exports were higher.

As for production, CPO output decreased 5.27 per cent to 1.63 million tonnes from 1.72 million tonnes in October.

Meanwhile, the MPOB said palm oil exports rose 3.30 per cent m-o-m to 1.46 million tonnes in November versus 1.42 million tonnes in October.

In another development, Bursa Malaysia launched its highly anticipated After-Hours (T+1) Night Trading Session on Dec 6, enhancing the competitiveness and attractiveness of the exchange’s products and the overall Malaysian derivatives market among local and international investors.

After-Hours Trading is important for hedging in the highly volatile CPO market.

For the week just ended, Malaysian CPO futures finished mostly lower, tracking weakness in the soybean oil market on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).

On a Thursday-to-Friday basis, December 2021 increased RM68 to RM5,243 a tonne, January 2022 gained RM131 to RM5,053 a tonne, February 2022 improved RM150 to RM4,650 a tonne, and March 2022 rose RM152 to RM4,583 a tonne.

Meanwhile, April 2022 added RM154 to RM4,401 a tonne and May 2022 climbed RM154 to RM4,583 a tonne.

Weekly volume rose to 298,561 lots from 283,756 lots last week, while open interest narrowed to 241,996 contracts from 250,920 contracts previously.

The physical CPO price for December South rose RM100 to RM5,280 a tonne. – Bernama