By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 (Bernama) -- The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to see profit-taking next week as traders pare their positions ahead of the Chinese New Year celebrations, according to Interband Group of Companies' senior palm oil trader, Jim Teh.
"However, losses are likely to be limited by buying support from India, Pakistan, the Middle East, the European Union, and the United States.
“Next week is expected to be a quiet trading period for the CPO futures market, with prices likely to range between RM4,100 and RM4,200 per tonne,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, palm oil trader David Ng forecasted that the CPO market would trade within a range of RM4,100 to RM4,350 per tonne, maintaining a slight upward bias due to strong market fundamentals.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the spot-month February 2025 contract declined by RM110 to RM4,441 per tonne, while the March 2025 contract fell by RM111 to RM4,280 per tonne, and the April 2025 contract eased by RM95 to RM4,190 per tonne.
The May 2025 contract dropped RM87 to RM4,122 per tonne, the June 2025 contract slipped RM79 to RM4,167 per tonne, and the July 2025 contract remained unchanged at RM4,070 per tonne.
Weekly trading volume rose to 445,885 lots from 444,410 lots in the previous week, while open interest decreased to 223,575 contracts on Friday, compared to 229,080 contracts a week earlier.
The physical CPO price for January South fell by RM110 to RM4,650 per tonne.
-- BERNAMA