CPO FUTURES PRICES CLOSE LOWER ON HIGH STOCKS

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 6 (Bernama) -- Crude palm oil (CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed lower today due to the impact of high palm oil stocks, dealers said.

The market was also influenced by the easier trend on the spot market, they said.

They added that trading was choppy with investors squaring up positions ahead of the weekend.

One of the dealers said that there was also brief speculative buying by fund managers.

The market was concerned over the outlook for the industry and awaiting direction from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) which is scheduled to release production and export data early next week, the dealers said.

At close of trading, the November 2009 contract fell RM15 to settle at RM2,169 per tonne and December 2009 dropped RM6 to RM2,215 per tonne.

January 2010 went down by RM1 to settle at RM2,246 per tonne while February 2010 was flat at RM2,268 per tonne.

The day's turnover decreased to 9,137 lots from 17,110 lots yesterday while open interest declined to 93,667 contracts from 94,529 contracts yesterday.

On the physical market, December South dropped to RM2,210 per tonne from RM2,180 per tonne yesterday. -- BERNAMA

STP LC