Malaysian palm oil price falls 1% in early trade

• May 02, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures opened lower on Thursday morning, falling to its lowest in nearly seven weeks. The benchmark palm oil contract for July delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was last down 1.1 percent at 2,073 ringgit ($501.33) a tonne.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Malaysian palm oil futures fell to its lowest in six weeks on Tuesday, recording a fourth consecutive day of declines, due to a bearish outlook for stocks from a leading palm oil analyst.

* U.S. corn futures edged up on Thursday to hit a five-week high as forecasts for further rains across a key growing region stoked fears of widespread planting delays.

* Oil prices were caught between opposing forces on Thursday, squeezed by record U.S. crude oil output and surging stockpiles, but supported by global market tensions as all exemptions to U.S. sanctions on Iran expired, Venezuela’s crisis escalated, and producer club OPEC withheld supply.

MARKET NEWS

* Asian markets marked time on Thursday with two major centres – Japan and China – shut for holidays while the dollar held on to overnight gains after the U.S. central bank poured cold water on rate cut expectations.

* The dollar took a breather in Asia on Thursday after recovering from a brief spill overnight when markets were whipsawed by mixed messages on policy from the Federal Reserve.

* U.S. stocks ended lower on Wednesday and the S&P 500 snapped a three-day streak of record high closes as comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell appeared to dampen hopes the central bank could move later this year to cut interest rates. – Reuters

Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2019/05/02/malaysian-palm-oil-price-falls-1-percent-in-early-trade/#5wX9ODUiW7MSm5HO.99