Palm | Kelapa Sawit

FCPO prices rose sharply to close at 10% limit amid strong gain in regional vegetable oil markets. Benchmark Jan09 initially open RM84 higher at 1599, as overnight crude oil closed higher. It then surged to close at morning high of 1634, following Dalian soy oil went up by its daily trading limit, coupled with eCBOT soybean oil which also rallied strongly during Asian trading time zone. Strong rebound in regional equity market also help lifted the bullish sentiment in local commodities market. Nevertheless, traders are still concerned about the overall outlook of slowing global demand and the build-up in vegetable oil stock levels as fears of global recession are still fresh in traders mind. Benchmark Jan09 eased off a little during afternoon session to hit afternoon low at 1602, but later aggressive short covering activities emerged and push Benchmark Jan09 prices to settle at daily 10% trading limit at 1666, in an active trading day.