Palm falls on lower edible oils at Dalian

By Dewi Kurniawati

Malaysian palm oil futures opened lower on Thursday as the market tracked lower edible oil prices at the Dalian exchange.

The benchmark palm oil contract FCPO1! for October delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 26 ringgit, or 0.59%, to 4,409 ringgit ($1,051.26) a metric ton in early trade.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Dalian's most-active soyoil contract (DBYcv1) fell 0.14%, while its palm oil contract CPO1! declined 0.09%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade ZL1! were also down 0.13%.

* Palm oil tracks price movements of rival edible oils, as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.

* China announced preliminary anti-dumping duties on Canadian canola imports on Tuesday, which will be effective from Thursday, escalating a year-long trade dispute that began with Ottawa's imposition of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports last August.

* Malaysia raised its September crude palm oil reference price, a change that increases the export duty rate to 10%, a circular on the Malaysian Palm Oil Board website showed on Wednesday.

* Oil prices edged higher on Thursday, regaining ground after a sell-off in the previous session, with the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin raising risk premiums in the market.

* Stronger crude oil futures make palm a more attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.

* The ringgit USDMYR, the palm's currency of trade, strengthened 0.26% against the dollar, making the commodity more expensive for buyers holding foreign currencies.

* Palm oil FCPO1! still targets a range of 4,388-4,400 ringgit per metric ton, as it failed to break strong resistance at 4,455 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.

MARKET NEWS

* The U.S. dollar was under pressure on Thursday as traders piled into wagers that the Federal Reserve will resume cutting interest rates next month, powering Bitcoin to a record high, while a blistering rally in regional stocks took a breather.

DATA/EVENTS

0600 UK GDP Estimate MM, 3M/3M, YY June

0600 UK Services MM, YY June

0600 UK Manufacturing Output MM June

0600 UK GDP Prelim QQ, YY Q2

0645 France CPI (EU Norm) Final MM, YY July

0645 France CPI MM, YY NSA July

0900 EU GDP Flash Estimate QQ, YY Q2

1230 US Initial Jobless Clm 9 August, w/e

1230 US PPI Machine Manuf'ing July

($1=4.1940 ringgit)