Friday, March 5, 2010

Breaking News-RTRS-INTERVIEW-UPDATE 1-Pakistan may sign Indonesia palm deal soon

KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Reuters) - Pakistan may sign by mid-2010 a preferential tariff pact with Indonesia for palm oil imports that will divert some of the South Asian country's orders from Malaysia, a top industry official said on Thursday.
Rasheed Janmohammad, vice-chairman of the Pakistan Edible Oil Refiners' Association, said the new tariff agreement would limit Pakistan's reliance on Malaysia, which has a crude palm oil export quota of 3 million tonnes.

Breaking News-RTRS-RPT-INTERVIEW-Bursa Malaysia sees strong palm futures trade

KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Reuters) - Malaysian stock exchange operator Bursa Malaysia expects the trading volume of its palm oil futures contract (FCPO) to grow by at least a third this year, helped by increased visibility on the world's largest derivatives exchange, a top executive said.
Bursa Malaysia is in the process of transferring its derivatives contracts currently traded on an in-house platform onto CME Group Inc.'s Globex platform.
Trading of FCPO, the global benchmark price for palm oil <0#KPO:>, grew by 33 percent to 4 million contracts in 2009, Bursa's chief executive, Yusli Mohamed Yusoff, told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday.
A bumper South American soy crop, recovering global demand and the resurgent El Nino weather condition will be some of the factors driving Southeast Asian palm oil markets in 2010.

Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as better-than-expected monthly sales from retailers and a drop in the number of Americans filing claims for jobless benefits pointed to stabilization in the economy.

The boost from February retail sales, which were expected to have been hurt by the severe weather across the United States, lifted retailers' shares as the S&P retail index <.RLX> added 1.3 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 47.38 points, or 0.46 percent, to 10,444.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 4.18 points, or 0.37 percent, to 1,122.97. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 11.63 points, or 0.51 percent, to close at 2,292.31.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended lower on Thursday, easing from a seven-week high hit Wednesday, as the dollar rebounded and downbeat home sales data overshadowed positive economic reports of the day.

The unexpected fall in January sales of previously owned homes outweighed other data showing a rise in February retail sales, a big jump in factory orders in January and a drop in weekly first-time jobless benefit claims.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, April crude closed down 66 cents, or 0.82percent, at $80.21 a barrel, trading from $79.70 to $81.09.

CBOT-CHICAGO, March 4 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade grains and soy complex close on Thursday.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - CBOT March soybeans down 22 cents at $9.32-1/2 a bushel, May down 21-1/2 at $9.42. Most-active May falls to near-two-week low and was the largest one day decline in nearly two months on a firm dollar, lower crude oil, along with pressure from the expanding harvest of a likely record-large South American soybean crop and May ended below all key moving averages.

CBOT-SOYOIL - CBOT March soyoil down 0.39 cent at 39.63 cents per lb, May down 0.40 at 40.00 cents. Weak crude oil and lower soybean futures weigh on soyoil.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, March 4 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets dipped on Thursday, nervously following U.S. stock index futures down a day ahead of U.S. job data for February.

A recent rally in the main Thai index <.SETI> ended as big energy firms such as PTT and PTT Chemical traded ex-dividend, pushing the market down 0.57 percent, but foreigners continued to buy, taking a net 1.3 billion baht ($40 million) of stock.

In Singapore, Wilmar International dropped 2.7 percent to S$6.49 after broker Citi lowered its target price for the world's largest palm oil producer to S$6.32, factoring in a revision to earnings and the latest net debt position.

In Kuala Lumpur, financial AMMB Holdings was down 2.2 percent and Petronas slid 3.2 percent.

FCPO Daily: May want to challenge 2726 levels


A significant breakout from the recent high at 2662 and covered the full gap left over at 2667-2675 had strengthened further the market upside momentum. Thus, market may want to challenge the next resistance at 2726 (high since 6/1/2010). Downside support is lies at 2620-2600.

FKLI Daily: Maintain in upward posture


Market remains firm and maintain in upward posture. As for now, we continue to look for the resistance looking at 1295.5 to 1300.0 levels. To the downside, immediate support is pegged at 1270.0 followed by 1260.0 levels.