Crude Palm Oil Futures End Off Highs; Market Expects Lower Exports

Crude palm oil futures on Malaysia’s derivatives exchange ended up Wednesday, but gains were trimmed amid expectations that palm oil exports for December may be 15%-16% lower on month, trade participants said.

The benchmark March contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended MYR5 higher at MYR2,595 a metric ton, after reaching an intraday high of MYR2,609, tracking modest gains on crude oil futures during Asian trading hours.

At 1000 GMT, light, sweet crude for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading 6 cents higher at $78.93 a barrel.

Traders said that Malaysia's palm oil exports in December may be 200,000 tons lower than November's 1.42 million-1.46 million tons.

Yen Shows Growth on Moody’s |ForexGen

The Japanese yen showed some really strong growth against the other Forex most-traded currencies today as the investors favored the Moody’s upgrade of the Japan’s yen debt rating.

Despite the weak performance of the Japanese stock market today the country’s currency showed one of the fastest growing day this month against dollar, euro and pound after Moody’s news about rating upgrade. It also rose against the Australian and New Zealand dollars today.

Trades generally consider the upgrade of the Japanese domestic debt securities from A1 level to Aa3 a great opportunity to go long on the yen. According to the Moody’s the Japanese economy won’t be as damaged by the global financial crisis as the economies of the European countries and U.S.

NZD Headed for Weekly Loss

The New Zealand dollar continued to lose against other currencies today (except the U.S. dollar) as the economy contracted in the first quarter and the expectations that the central bank will cut the interest rate rose.

Although, the New Zealand currency is rising today against the U.S. dollar, it’s still going down sharply against the yen, euro, and Australian dollars. It will probably end the week in the negative zone against those three currencies.

The gross domestic product fell 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2008 in New Zealand showing that the 8.25 percent interest rate is pressing hard on the country’s economy. Output contraction may play a significant role at the next Reserve Bank of New Zealand monetary policy meeting.

dollar Falling after FOMC Euro | ForexGen

The U.S. dollar declined today against the euro, extending its weekly drop, as the chances for the Federal Reserve to increase the interest rates next week became more slim.

The dollar also headed for a weekly loss against the Japanese yen as the weak macroeconomic statistics from the United States made traders believe that the FOMC will leave rates unchanged at its meeting on June 25.

While there is a great probability that the U.S. interest rate will remain at 2 percent until Fall at least, European Central Bank will probably signal that it will be raising the interest rates soon, as the inflation in Eurozone comes out above the central bank’s target level