VEGOILS Palm oil rebounds on stronger crude, rival oils

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 (Reuters) – Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Thursday, clawing back from previous session’s steep decline, tracking strength in rival soyoil and crude prices.

The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 33 ringgit, or 0.77%, to 4,299 ringgit ($1,016.67) during early trade.

It had plunged 4.5% in the previous session after cargo surveyors reported a larger-than-expected drop in exports during the first half of December.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Dec. 1-15 fell 13.4% to 789,549 tonnes from the same period in November, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance said.

* Dalian’s most-active soyoil contract fell 0.1% while its palm oil contract slipped 0.5%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.5%.

* Palm oil is affected by price movements in related oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

* Oil prices rose as the United States implied consumer petroleum demand surged to a record high in the world’s top oil consumer even as the Omicron variant of coronavirus threatens to dent oil consumption globally.

* Stronger crude oil futures typically make palm a more attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.

MARKET NEWS

* Asian stocks followed Wall Street higher on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would end bond-buying stimulus in March to set up three interest rate increases next year to tackle heated inflation.

DATA/EVENTS

0815 France Markit Mfg Flash PMI Dec

0830 Germany Markit Mfg Flash PMI Dec

0900 EU Markit Mfg Flash PMI Dec

0930 UK Flash Manufacturing PMI Dec

1200 UK BOE Bank Rate Dec

1245 EU ECB Refinancing Rate Dec

1245 EU ECB Deposit Rate Dec

1330 US Initial Jobless Clm Weekly

1330 US Housing Starts Number Nov

1415 US Industrial Production MM Nov

1445 US Markit Mfg PMI Flash Dec

1330 Press conference following the Governing Council meeting of the ECB in Frankfurt

($1 = 4.2285 ringgit)

Reporting by Mei Mei Chu;

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.