Friday, July 10, 2009

RTRS-UPDATE 1-Malaysia's June palm oil stocks at 4-month high

KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 - Malaysian crude palm oil stocks in June rose 2.5 percent to a 4-month high, although the pace of growth slowed from a month ago as an output rise barely outpaced an increase in orders, data from an industry regulator showed on Friday.

The increase was below market expectations for a 4.6 percent rise to 1.43 million tonnes forecast in a Reuters poll this week.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for July 1-10 rose 44.8 percent to 419,100 tonnes from 289,437 tonnes shipped between June 1 and 10, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said earlier in the day.

Trader's Comment: Palm oil futures ended higher on late covering after a tight range trading.

Palm oil futures ended higher on late covering after a tight range trading. Short covering activities and technical correction were seen after last 2 days of aggressive sold off. Official June supply & demand data and the first 10 days of July export data scheduled to be released by MPOB and private cargo surveyors respectively had provided the excuse for the covering activities. FCPO market had been trading cautiously in a tight range between 2037-2000 through out most of the sessions. The appear of market talk in late trading that 1-10 July export data likely to be around 420k tonnes compare to last month corresponding period at 289k tonnes(ITS), prompted some short covering to occur in the final hour of trading. Benchmark Sep09 surged to settle at the intra day high at 2047. Daily volume declined to 12,635 contracts changed hands.

RTRS-Pakistan buys less palm oil in June -trader

ISLAMABAD, July 9 (Reuters) - Pakistan's June palm oil imports slid below 100,000 tonnes on a lack of demand and an uncertain international market, but buying has picked up in July, an industry official said on Thursday.
Demand had been been in a lull for the past three months, particularly in the northwest, where troops were battling Taliban militants, Rasheed Janmohammad, vice-chairman of the Pakistan Edible Oil Refiners' Association, said.

RTRS - UPDATE 1-China revises up July soy imports to record 4.28 mln T

BEIJING, July 9 (Reuters) - China's Commerce Ministry revised upwards its estimate for the country's soybean imports in July to 4.28 million tonnes from a previous projection of 3.56 million tonnes.
The ministry, in its latest report issued on Thursday, cut the projection for the country's soy imports in June to 4.23 million tonnes from an earlier estimate of 4.34 million tonnes.
The estimate for July was the highest even monthly import for the world's largest soy importer, followed by June imports. China's Customs will likely release actual arrival figures on Friday.
The ministry's estimates, based on reports from buyers, does not capture all shipments but gives a general picture of the direction of trade.
China's palmoil imports stayed robust with July imports seen at 440,827 tonnes, higher than earlier estimate of 243,473 tonnes.

Breaking News - RTRS-No weather threat to young U.S. corn, soybeans

CHICAGO, July 9 (Reuters) - Scattered showers coupled with cool temperatures in the U.S. Midwest pose no threat to developing corn and soybeans, a forecaster said on Thursday.
"It's mostly favorable weather -- with no threat to corn as it begins pollinating," said Joel Burgio, DTN Meteorlogix forecaster.
The benign weather was ideal for corn as it approaches its key yield determining phase of pollination in the coming weeks. In fact, crops would benefit from slightly warmer temperatures which are headed to the Corn Belt, Burgio said.

Trader's Highlight

DJI - NEW YORK, July 9 - U.S. stocks edged higher on Thursday as investors bought beaten-down technology and commodity shares, while a positive broker comment on Goldman Sachs boosted the financial sector.

Trading was choppy in light volumes for most of the day as investors remained cautious ahead of more corporate earnings reports in the coming weeks. Alcoa Inc set a positive tone when it kicked off the earnings season with a smaller-than-expected loss after the bell on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 4.76 points, or 0.06 percent, to 8,183.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 3.12 points, or 0.35 percent, to 882.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 5.38 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,752.55.

NYMEX - NEW YORK, July 9 - U.S. crude oil futures ended higher on Thursday, snapping a six-day losing streak amid bargain hunting, a drop in jobless benefit claims and as gasoline futures staged a late, supportive rally.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange settled up 27 cents, or 0.45 percent, at $60.41 a barrel, trading from $59.25 to $61.62. The day's low was the cheapest since May 19, when front-month crude futures hit $58.55.

CBOT - SOYBEANS - July up 26-1/2 cents at $11.10-1/2 a bushel, November up 24 cents at $9.16 a a bushel.

Market rebounding from severe sell-off earlier this week amid support from strong export sales data.

CBOT - SOYOIL - July up 0.50 cent at 32.58 cents a lb.

Oversold technical signals lead to short-covering. Gains in soybean futures also lend support.

FCPO - KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 - Malaysian crude palm oil futures gained 2.3 percent on Thursday as traders bet on better exports for this month, softening on an earlier stance that the weak global economy would hurt vegetable oil demand.

But palm oil, used in products ranging from biofuel to biscuits, has yet to fully recover from 14-week lows hit on Wednesday and has lost nearly 10 percent so far in the second half of 2009.

The benchmark September contract on Bursa Malaysia's Derivatives Exchange closed up 45 ringgit to 2,047 ringgit ($574.5) per tonne. On Wednesday, the contract fell to 1,983 ringgit, a level unseen since March 31.

REGIONAL EQUITIES
- BANGKOK, July 9 - Southeast Asian shares ended mostly higher on Thursday, with a rise in Singapore fuelled by big caps such as SingTel and CapitaLand, but the Indonesian index managed only modest gains after the
presidential election.

Singapore's Straits Times Index recovered from a two-week drop to lead the market rally, rising 2.1 percent, with Thailand breaking a four-day losing streak, adding 1.1 percent. Philippine shares added 0.5 percent.

Malaysia and Vietnam finished flat. In Indonesia, the Jakarta index ended just 0.03 percent higher after provisional results showed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won a resounding election victory.