Malaysian palm oil futures drop as easing rival oils and stronger ringgit weigh

Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Wednesday, dragged down by weakness in rival vegetable oils while a stronger ringgit added pressure to the contract. The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 38 ringgit, or 0.75%,to 5,037 ringgit ($1,148.17) a metric ton at closing. The contract is pulled down by the easing of soyoil prices in the Dalian Commodity Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said. Dalian’s palm oil contract DCPcv1 climbed 0.72%, while itsmost-active soyoil contract DBYcv1 slipped 0.25%. Soyoil was down 1.23%at the Chicago Board of Trade. Malaysian ringgit, the contract’s currency of trade, strengthened 0.38% against the U.S. dollar, weighing down palm oil futures. A stronger ringgit makes palm oil less attractive for foreign currency holders. India’s edible oil imports in November jumped to their highest levels in four months as refiners raised purchases of palm oil, soyoil and ...