By Karina Imran

KUALA LUMPUR, April 8  -- The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended lower on Thursday due to profit-taking activities after three consecutive days of gains. 

Palm oil trader David Ng said the market was volatile, with prices retreating after hitting RM3,900 per tonne as the prospect of higher production weighed on sentiment. 

“We locate support at RM 3,740 per tonne and resistance at RM3,880 per tonne,” he told Bernama.

Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics owner and co-founder Dr Sathia Varqa said investors were also cautious ahead of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) monthly report. 

“USDA's world supply and demand estimates for April will be published Friday,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Moody’s Corporate Finance Group vice-president and analyst Nidhi Dhruv said Malaysia’s CPO prices are expected to soften by between US$531.50 and US$628.13 per tonne over the next 18 months.

At the close, CPO futures contract for April 2021 declined RM38 to RM4,244 per tonne, May 2021 was RM36 lower at RM4,044 per tonne, June 2021 fell RM54 to RM3,791 per tonne, and July 2021 shed RM63 to RM3,603 per tonne.

Total volume increased to 71,068 lots from 45,729 lots on Wednesday, while open interest went up to 265,508 contracts from 244,357 contracts previously.  

The physical CPO price for April South fell RM10 to RM4,270 per tonne.

-- BERNAMA