By Zufazlin Baharuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, May 7  -- The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives (BMD) extended its rally to closed higher today, hitting a fresh all-time high of above RM4,400 a tonne for the July benchmark contract.

Palm oil trader David Ng said the upbeat performance was due to concerns over weak production and lower stockpile in the country ahead of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) report due out next week which supported the prices of the golden crop. 

He added the stronger soybean oil performance on the US Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) also helped to lift sentiment higher.

“We locate support at RM4,250 per tonne and resistance at RM4,480 per tonne,” he told Bernama.

According to the MPOB, Malaysia’s CPO price stood at RM4,652 per tonne on May 6 -- the highest price in the palm oil industry’s history and the ninth highest this year -- surpassing the previous peak of RM4,548.50 per tonne recorded just the day before.

At the close, CPO futures contract for May 2021 increased RM165 to RM4,883 per tonne, June 2021 added RM219 to RM4,678 per tonne, July 2021 rose RM212 to RM4,427 per tonne, and August 2021 climbed RM184 to RM4,217 per tonne. 

Total volume surged to 74,424 lots from 66,152 lots on Thursday, while open interest edged down to 277,416 contracts from 283,149 contracts previously.  

The physical CPO price for May South added RM120 to RM4,830 per tonne.

-- BERNAMA