* Palm rises as much as 0.7 pct to 2,what does the bible say about forgiving adultery181 ringgit/T
* Crude oil weakness caps palm's gains - trader
* India tax cut supportive, but yet to see better demand -
trader
By Emily Chow
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures
were trading at a two-week high in early trade on Thursday
boosted by a weaker ringgit, but a sharp decline in crude
oil prices capped gains.
The ringgit, palm's currency of trade, weakened 0.1 percent
against the dollar to 4.1400 around noon, making the vegetable
oil cheaper for foreign buyers.
The benchmark palm oil contract for March delivery
on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had rose as much as
0.7 percent to 2,181 ringgit before paring some gains. It was
last up 0.1 percent at 2,169 ringgit ($523.91) a tonne at the
midday break.
Trading volumes stood at 15,043 lots of 25 tonnes each at
noon. (1FCPO-TOT)
"The market had risen tracking gains in the Chicago Board of
Trade and Dalian Commodity Exchange, and a weak ringgit, but
weak crude oil weighed," said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader,
referring to gains in related edible oils on the two exchanges.
While palm could be supported by rising demand following
India reducing its palm oil import taxes, the trader said export
data was yet to reflect that as the new ruling had been
implemented this week.
India, the world's largest importer of edible oils, said on
Monday it would lower the duty on crude palm oil imports to 40
percent from 44 percent, while a tax on refined oils was cut to
50 percent from 54 percent.
Malaysian shipments of refined palm oil, however, will be
taxed at 45 percent compared with 54 percent earlier.
Oil prices slipped on Thursday amid volatile currency and
stock markets, and as analysts warned of an economic slowdown
for 2019 amid rising crude supplies globally.
In other related oils, the Chicago March soybean oil
contract rose 0.4 percent, while the January soybean oil
contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange jumped 1.8
percent.
Meanwhile, the Dalian January palm oil contract
gained 2.2 percent.
Palm oil prices are impacted by changes in soyoil prices, as
they compete for a share in the global vegetable oil market.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0500 GMT:
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL JAN9 2090 +20.00 2090 2090 3
MY PALM OIL FEB9 2129 +1.00 2115 2143 1244
MY PALM OIL MAR9 2169 +3.00 2155 2181 6372
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN9 4188 +88.00 4100 4188 1732
CHINA SOYOIL JAN9 4980 +88.00 4892 4980 200
CBOT SOY OIL JAN9 27.9 +0.00 0 0 25
INDIA PALM OIL JAN9 527.00 +2.50 522.40 529.3 435
INDIA SOYOIL JAN9 740 +0.15 738.8 742 2030
NYMEX CRUDE FEB9 45.76 -0.78 45.39 46.35 59516
Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1 = 4.1400 ringgit)
($1 = 70.4040 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.8754 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
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