CPO FUTURES TO SEE PROFIT-TAKING NEXT WEEK AMID BULLISH RALLY

By Fatin Umairah Abdul Hamid

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 (Bernama) -- The crude palm oil (CPO) futures market is expected to see profit-taking next week following a bullish rally, driven by aggressive buying from hedge funds, said Interband Group of Companies senior palm oil trader Jim Teh.

Teh noted that hedge funds have invested around US$20 billion (RM87.5 billion) in agricultural products, including in CPO futures, over the past seven weeks.

"Next week, the market will likely see profit-taking, probably trading within the range of RM4,200 to RM4,300.

“You could call it this month's 'palm oil boom’,” he said.

Meanwhile, palm oil trader David Ng echoed Teh’s sentiment, adding that market prices are expected to trend higher next week, mainly driven by crude and soybean oil prices.

“We expect prices next week to trade between RM4,700 and RM4,950 per tonne,” he said.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the spot month November 2024 contract increased RM344 to RM4,976 per tonne, December 2024 gained RM330 to RM4,914 per tonne and January 2025 improved RM332 to RM4,868 per tonne.

Meanwhile, February 2025 gained RM327 to RM4,808 per tonne, March 2025 climbed RM303 to RM4,726 per tonne and  the April 2025 contract rose RM280 to RM4,637 per tonne.

Total weekly volume decreased to 316,573 lots from 428,573 lots in the preceding week, while open interest slid to 246,507 contracts from 252,233 contracts previously.

The physical CPO price for October South increased RM300 to RM4,980 on Friday from RM4,680 a week earlier.

-- BERNAMA