Crude palm oil futures (FCPO) on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended the
week lower due to profit taking and positions squaring activities ahead
of the long weekend after the market rose sharply for the past two
weeks.
The benchmark FCPO November contract declined RM50 or 1.63
per cent to close at RM3,019 per tonne on Friday from RM3,069 per tonne
last Friday.
The trading range for the week was from RM2,978 to RM3,122.
Total volume traded for the week amounted to 135,727 contracts, up 24,498 contracts from the previous week.
The open interest as at Wednesday increased to 129,327 contracts from 123,958 contracts the previous Thursday.
Typhoon
Bolaven hit China on Tuesday on a weaker basis in terms of winds and
rains which did not bring much harm to the crop production in China.
However,
the Tropical Storm Isaac in US was strengthened to Hurricane Isaac
Category 1 brought massive rainfalls, strong winds and floods to the US
Gulf Coast region over the week, shutting down most of the oil and
natural gas drilling platforms and refineries in the area and stalling
the local business activities in the region.
The Hurricane Isaac
was sighted to move forward and would bring moderate to heavy rainfalls
to most of the southern half of US over the weekend.
Some analysts
commented the rainfalls came too late to revive the soybean crops in
the southern areas but it did bring some relief to the drought stricken
region.
However, the heavy rainfalls may also halt the harvesting progress which is on-going currently in those areas.
The
weekly crop progress report released by USDA on Monday indicated the
soybean crop condition slipped slightly where the soybean crop was
reported 30 per cent in good to excellent condition, down from 31 per
cent the previous week.
Cargo surveyor ITS released the palm oil
export fi gures for the full month of August on Friday at 1,453,544
tonnes, a surge of 17.73 per cent from the same period last month.
Earlier,
cargo surveyor SGS released the palm oil export fi gures for the period
of August 1 to 25 on Monday at 1,051,541 tonnes, an increase of 6.56
per cent from the same period last month.
The Federal Reserve
chairman Ben Bernanke hinted on the possibility and the need of more
quantitative easing programs during his speech in Jackson Hole on Friday
given the current high unemployment and stagnation in the US labour
market.
His remarks lifted the sentiment in the overnight US equities market.
Traders
would also focus on the outcome of the European Central Bank’s monetary
policy next Thursday to gauge the development of the eurozone debt
crisis.
The US market will be closed on Monday celebrating the Labour Day.
Technical View
The benchmark November contract retraced this week after the sharp rally for the past two weeks as we had mentioned earlier.
The market covered the gap nicely and we expect the uptrend would start anytime soon.
Resistance would be pegged at RM3,193 and RM3,270 while support was set at RM2,973 and RM2,820.
Major fundamental news this coming week
Malaysian
export data for the full month of August by SGS on September 3 and the
Reuters’ poll on the August’s palm oil supply and demand.
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