Palm Oil Futures Fall After Holiday on Bearish Export Data

Vegetable oil prices were mixed on Friday as Malaysian prices played catch up to the U.S. market following a holiday on Thursday. However, fund spreading supported soybean oil prices despite early-session weakness in crude oil. Crude oil managed to rally and rose more than two percent from the late morning lows in afternoon trading, which contributed to late-session strength in soybean oil prices.

Soybean oil futures gained about 1/2 percent (December contract +15 basis points per pound). Buying at the 10-day moving average contributed to the bullish tone, but selling at the five-day exponential moving average limited the advance. It remains to be seen whether soybean oil prices can continue to rally, and the trend in Chinese prices will play a large part in determining the near-term direction of the market. The…