Trader's Comment: CPO futures hovering at higher level today on the back of some supportive external factors.

CPO futures hovering at higher level today on the back of some supportive external factors. The strong close of overnight NYMEX crude oil and CBOT soy oil saw Benchmark July09 opened RM18 higher at 2453 and thereafter hovering between 2463-2439 level on the remaining morning session. Prices turned slightly weaker during second session opening as it suddenly slid to intra day low of 2423. However, it was quick to bounce back again and continue trading in the earlier range. Some late covering sent Benchmark to intra day high pf 2481 before it finally settled RM40 higher at 2475. The positive external market had provided steady support to CPO market. eCBOT soy oil extended overnight’s gains to inched higher today while Dalian palm also rose steadily. On the other side, Oilworld had also forecasted Argentina’s 2009 soybean harvest to reduce by 3 million tones due to dry weather. Meanwhile, there was news that Russia may halve their palm oil import to 420k tones this year as they had doubled their import tariff from June.