By Anas Abu Hassan

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 23  -- The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed higher today in anticipation of the lower palm oil stock at the end of this month. 

Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics’ owner and co-founder Dr Sathia Varqa noted that the gains in CPO futures were also mainly supported by the strengthening soybean oil and crude oil prices.

His opinion was also echoed by palm oil trader David Ng, who agreed that the strong rally in the overnight soybean oil performance helped to boost CPO futures.

"We locate support at RM3,500 and resistance at RM3,750," he told Bernama. 

At the close, the CPO futures contract for March 2021 gained RM62 to RM4,007 per tonne, April 2021 jumped RM135 to RM3,874 per tonne, May 2021 appreciated RM132 to RM3,676 per tonne, and June 2021 added RM105 to RM3,512 per tonne.  

Total volume widened to 66,719 lots from 40,514 lots on Monday, while open interest rose to 266,230 contracts from 232,828 contracts previously.  

The physical CPO price for March South increased by RM65 to RM4,025 per tonne. 

-- BERNAMA