KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures recovered in late trade on Friday on forecasts of stronger export data and short-covering ahead of the weekend.

Benchmark palm oil futures for May on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 0.9 per cent to 2,806 ringgit ($632.41) a tonne at the end of the trading day.

However, the second daily gain this week could not prevent a second weekly decline, with the market down by 1.8pc since Feb 20, unable to shake of f concerns over rising output. Traded volumes stood at 68,348 lots of 25 tonnes each on Friday evening.

Palm oil shipments could see improvements during the Feb 1-25 period from a month ago, traders said ahead of the release of data from cargo surveyors.

Intertek Testing Services, which reported a 0.8pc fall in exports for the Feb 1-20 period, is expected to release its latest data on Saturday.

Societe Generale de Surveillance, however, reported a 1.7pc rise in shipments in the same period and is expected to release its data on Monday.-Reuters