Palm oil extends losses tracking weak rival oils

By Liz Lee

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures continued to slide early Monday tracking weak soyoil and in absence of fresh cues, after three straight weeks of declines dragged by demand concerns.

The benchmark third-month palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.24 percent to 2,107 ringgit ($516.42) a tonne.

Traders in Malaysia said the market had factored in earlier demand weakness and did not have new catalysts to respond to.

"The market lacks supportive news to sustain the initial rebound this morning," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader.

"Palm is marginally lower tracking weakness in overnight bean oil prices," another Kuala Lumpur-based trader said.

The Chicago soybean oil fell 0.7 percent last week and was last up 0.1 percent.

The Dalian Commodity Exchange soyoil contract and palmolein contract were both 0.3 percent up, after losing more than 3 percent last week.

Palm oil dropped 2.8 percent last week.

Ample supplies with top buyers China and India weighed on market sentiment for palm, although traders have said the downside was limited.

Furthermore, European nations were also cutting down on palm oil consumption due to environmental concerns.

Palm may gain more to 2,142 ringgit per tonne, as it has cleared a resistance at 2,094 ringgit, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.

"The strong recovery of the price from the March 15 low of 2,038 ringgit, along with the five-wave structure of the downtrend from 2,344 ringgit, suggests a reversal of the downtrend," he said.

($1 = 4.0880 ringgit)

($1 = 4.0800 ringgit)

(Reporting by Liz Lee, Editing by Shreejay Sinha)