CPO, rubber end mixed, tin unchanged

CRUDE palm oil (CPO) futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed mixed yesterday on lack of strong buying, dealers said.

The release of higher export figures for the first 20 days of March by cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services (ITS) had provided buying interest in the morning session.

However, unfavourable palm oil export data released by cargo surveyor SGS in afternoon session capped the earlier gains.
According to ITS, palm oil exports for March 1-20 rose 3.4 per cent to 873,931 tonnes from 844,865 shipped in the same period last month.

SGS meanwhile reported that exports of palm oil for the same period fallen 2.4 per cent to 844,474 from 865,593 tonnes in February.

Meanwhile, Interband Group's Senior Palm Oil Trader said the CPO futures market was firm as investors were bullish on the prospects for the Malaysian economy.

"The current prices are still attractive," he said. April 2010 rose RM15 to RM2,635 and May 2010 added RM7 to RM2,590 but June and July 2010 fell RM7 each to RM2,570 and RM2,558 respectively.

Overall volume fell to 12,691 lots from 15,432 lots last Friday while open interest eased to 79,157 from 81,225 contracts previously. On the physical market, April South stood at RM2,630 .

RUBBER

PRICES on the Malaysian rubber market ended mixed yesterday on a lack of strong buying, dealers said.

However, they said that the market undertone was firm, due to supply concerns in major producing countries.

“The prolonged hot weather will increase stress on the trees and cause the production of less latex,” a dealer said.

At noon,the Malaysia Rubber Board’s official physical price for tyre-grade SMR 20 ended 1 sen higher at 1,036.5 sen a kg while latex-in-bulk fell 2 sen to 736.0 sen.

The unofficial closing price for SMR 20 was unchanged at 1,036.5 sen per kg while latex-in-bulk slipped 1.5 sen to 735.0 sen a kg.

TIN

THE Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) closed unchanged yesterday at US$17,580 (US$1.00 = RM3.34) per tonne, despite the downtrend performance on the London Metal Exchange (LME), dealers said.

The metal price on the LME fell by US$145 to US$17,650 per tonne.

On the local front, at the opening level of US$17,580 per tonne, bids accounted for 65 tonnes while offers were at 60 tonnes.

Turnover increased to 60 tonnes from 56 tonnes last Friday with interest from Japanese, European and local traders.

The price differential between the KLTM and the LME widened to a premium of US$285 per tonne from US$140 per tonne previously. - Bernama