CPO FUTURES

CRUDE palm oil futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed softer on profit-taking yesterday.

A dealer said the demand was quite slow with most buyers staying on the sidelines over renewed concerns on the Eurozone debt crisis and heavy stocks.

November 2011 fell RM20 to RM2,860 a tonne; December 2011 lost RM20 to RM2,866; January 2012 tumbled RM26 to RM2,866; and February 2012 shed RM27 to RM2,873.

Volume rose to 31,354 lots from 29,646 lots while open interest increased to 138,380 contracts from 137,721 contracts.

On the physical market, October South eased RM20 to RM2,880 a tonne.

OIL
: Brent and US crude futures pared gains and the expiring front-month US contract briefly turned lower yesterday in choppy trading after a report showed that jobless claims fell last week in the US, but not to the level expected.

ICE Brent December crude was up 74 cents at US$109.13 (US$1.00 = RM3.20) a barrel by 1242 GMT, having traded from US$107.65 to US$109.64.

On Nymex, expiring November crude was up 19 cents at US$86.30 a barrel, trading from US$85.27 to US$86.94.

Both contracts had earlier been supported by news of the latest plans by European officials for addressing the region’s debt problems and by a tight supply picture and lower inventories.

RUBBER

THE Malaysian rubber market ended lower in quiet trade yesterday, following a fall in the Tokyo Commodity Exchange.

The market was weighed down by weaker oil prices and renewed concerns over the euro zone debt crisis, dealers said.

The Malaysian Rubber Board’s official physical price for tyre-grade SMR20 softened 58 sen to 1225.50 sen per kg while latex-in-bulk decreased 16 sen to 803.00 sen per kg.

The unofficial closing price for tyre-grade SMR 20 lost 72.5 sen to 1189.50 sen per kg while latex-in-bulk shed 20 sen to 795.00 sen per kg.

TIN

THE tin price on Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) closed unchanged yesterday at US$21,400 per tonne amid a steady market, dealers said.

They said the traders stayed on the sidelines to take the cue from the movements on the London Metal Exchange (LME).

The LME, which usually sets the trend for the tin price, rose by US$605 to close at US$21,950 per tonne.

At the opening bell, bids amounted to 35 tonnes while offers stood at 29 tonnes.

Turnover rose to 35 tonnes from the 30 tonnes on Wednesday with the participation of Japanese, European and local traders.

The price differential between the KLTM and the LME was at discount of US$210 against a premium of US$395 on Wednesday. — Agencies