Wilmar

Wilmar: Macquarie Warrants note that Wilmar had its lowest close in more than three mths after the stock tumbled 2.4% to $3.31 on Mon. The stock’s underperformance relative to the broad index led to investors picking up over 12m of Wilmar call warrants on Mon. Yesterday, the stock outperformed with a +1.2% gain to $3.35, while the various Wilmar call warrants bought rose between 4 to 12%. The stock’s see-saw performance comes on the back of official palm oil data to be released today. In a Bloomberg survey on Mon, analysts and plantation co’s estimate palm oil stockpiles in Msia in March to decline 7% from Fe, the steepest mthly drop since January 2011. If so, the decline in inventories for a third mth may help stem the slump in palm oil prices in the past yr, which is down 33% in the past year, to its lowest on April 1. At the same time, analysts have also estimated the Msian palm oil exports may gain for the first time since Oct and will be 7.5% higher than a yr ago. Official numbers will be due for release today. In a separate Bloomberg survey released yesterday, March palm oil shipments from Indonesia are also estimated to slump the most in two years. These falling shipments as a result of easing demand from China after the Lunar New Year, will negate the estimated decline in the Malaysian stockpiles mentioned above. The forecasts for rising exports and declining reserves sparked a rally on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange. Palm oil futures yesterday gained as much as 0.8% to 2,419 ringgit/ton intraday, the highest since March 28. Historically, the stock prices of palm oil co’s such as Wilmar tend to be positively correlated with the price movement in crude palm oil prices.