SINGAPORE: Malaysian palm oil futures snapped two sessions of losses to rise nearly 3% on Thursday, as traders anticipated more declines in inventory in January.

The benchmark palm oil contract for April delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 93 ringgit higher, or 2.9%, to 3,265 ringgit ($804.78). Palm fell 4.9% in the previous session.

“Traders are expecting stock data in January to be on the lower side,” a Kuala Lumpur-based trader told Reuters.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board will release the data on Feb. 10, with the country’s palm oil end-stocks having already slumped 19% from the month before in December.

Palm prices have risen in the past year due to a supply crunch in Malaysia brought about by poor weather and infrastructure issues. Elsewhere, Dalian’s most-active soyaoil contract fell 0.2%, while its palm oil contract slipped 0.8%.—Reuters