Palm oil jumps on outlook for festival demand

Palm oil jumped to the highest in almost two months on the outlook for increased demand from Asian nations set to celebrate major religious festivals. October-delivery futures rose as much as 1.6 per cent to 2,497 ringgit ($775) a metric tonne on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, the highest since May 24. The most-active contract traded at 2,485 ringgit at the lunchtime break in Kuala Lumpur. Soybeans for November in Chicago fell 0.5 per cent to $9.74 a bushel at 12:18 pm Singapore time. The oilseed, which has gained 7.9 per cent this month, began the rally after the US government said reserves as of June 1 were at a six-year low. Soybean oil for delivery in December dropped 0.1 per cent to 39.02 cents. Soybean oil’s premium over palm oil narrowed to $88.24 a tonne from $96.93 yesterday, according to Bloomberg data.