Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Friday, recovering from two sessions of declines, buoyed by sharp overnight gains in rival US soyaoil. The benchmark palm oil contract for December delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 0.5% higher at 2,148 ringgit ($513.38) per tonne. The contract gained as much as 1.5% during the session before giving up some of its gains. The benchmark barely moved this week, down 0.05%, following a 3.4% drop last week.

Palm oil competes with other edible oils such as soyabean oil for a share in the global market. After charting a 2.3% gain in the previous session, the US soyaoil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were down 0.2%. The Dalian commodity exchange is closed this week for national holidays. High production level of palm oil has been keeping prices in check as demand for the vegetable oil remains sluggish.

Copyright Reuters, 2019