By Gavin Maguire
SINGAPORE, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Malaysian palm oil futures established a tight trading range on either side of 5,550 ringgit per tonne on Friday as market participants took stock of volatile global markets, while still assessing the impact of Indonesia’s new curbs on palm exports.
Indonesian authorities shocked global edible oil markets last week by implementing a new rule that made it mandatory for palm oil producers to sell 20% of their output to domestic consumers at fixed prices.
The rule change has clouded the outlook for crude palm oil supplies from Indonesia, and upended global edible oil markets by making what is traditionally the cheapest vegetable oil the costliest among the three major edible oils traded across the world.
The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 0.34% to 5,530 ringgit ($1,322) per tonne in early trade.
FUNDAMENTALS
* World food prices rebounded in January and remained near 10-year highs, led by a jump in the vegetable oils index, the U.N. food agency said on Thursday.
* India is in its first government-to-government negotiations with Russia for the long-term supply of fertilizers, government and industry sources said, hedging against geopolitical instability and high global prices.
* Global crop prices recovered some of the lost ground on Friday through profit-taking, with March soybeans and corn regaining footings above psychologically significant price levels to stay on course for strong weekly gains. GRA/
* Oil prices climbed on Friday, extending sharp gains in the previous session as frigid weather swept across large swathes of the United States, threatening to further disrupt oil supplies. O/R
* China’s main commodity futures markets will be closed until Feb. 7 due to the Spring Festival holiday.
* Palm oil FCPOc3 may rise into the 5,608-5,676 ringgit range, as it is stabilising around a support at 5,484 ringgit per tonne, said Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao. TECH/C
GLOBAL MARKETS
* Shares of Facebook owner Meta FB.O plummeted 26% on Thursday, the biggest single-day slide in market value for a U.S. company, after the social media giant issued a dismal forecast, blaming Apple Inc’s AAPL.O privacy changes and increased competition. MKTS/GLOB
DATA/EVENTS
0700 Germany Industrial Orders MM Dec
1330 US Non-Farm Payrolls Jan
1330 US Unemployment Rate Jan
1330 US Average Earnings YY Jan
1215 – Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent and Chief Economist Huw Pill hold an online briefing for businesses on the central bank’s Feb. 3 interest rate decision and new economic forecasts
($1 = 4.18 ringgit)
(Reporting By Gavin Maguire; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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