Palm oil on the European vegetable oils market was little changed on Thursday in very thin trade as players were winding down business ahead of the new year. Palm oil was mostly offered unchanged from Wednesday after Malaysian palm oil futures closed between four and 24 ringgit a tonne down on end-of-year profit taking.

"The market was dull with many players absent, taking time off between Christmas and the New Year. If there was something traded it is small stuff to square books or because of solving a logistic problem," one broker said. At 1730 GMT, CBOT soyaoil futures were between 0.25 and 0.34 cents per lb down in choppy trade, mostly tracking the weaker trend in rival palm oil and due to slightly weaker energy markets. EU rapeoil was offered between flat and five euros per tonne lower, tracking the weaker trend in CBOT soyaoil futures, while a weaker dollar also weighed on prices. Firmer rapeseed futures, on positioning ahead of the end of the year, limited losses. Coconut oil was offered firmer on concerns over damage done by Typhoon Nok-Ten to coconut trees in the Philippines over Christmas. Palmkernel oil eased with the trend in palm oil futures and because of a weak ringgit.

Copyright Reuters, 2017