Trader's Comment: CPO futures closed sharply higher on aggressive short covering and speculative buying activities.

CPO futures closed sharply higher on aggressive short covering and speculative buying activities. Benchmark Feb09 initially traded lower and hit intra day low of 1496, following overnight NYMEX crude oil settled nearly 7% lower coupled with easier CBOT soy complex. However, the emerged of bargain hunting buyers near 1500 level had provided some support on the CPO price. Market was trading in a cautious manner, saw CPO prices to hover around 1520-1540 through out most of the sessions. Nevertheless, since Benchmark Feb09 break above yesterday’s high at 1550 level, buyers were seen more and more impatient. In the later second session, Benchmark Feb09 surging further to hit intra day high of 1604, before it finally settled RM78 higher at 1598. Market has been steady for the last couple of days due to Malaysia government implementation of bio-fuel mandates and replanting schemes. The big 6 plantation houses had been very supportive to these measures. This provided some comfort to the buyers and created some uneasiness to the bear.