25th Jan 2013
PETALING JAYA: Having been battered down since last September, is it a good time for investors to buy into plantation stocks?
Over the last 12 months, the plantation index of Bursa Malaysia has underperformed the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KL Composite Index (FBM KLCI) significantly. To-date, the plantation index is some 15% below the FBM KLCI.
This is not surprising, considering that the third-month contract of crude palm oil (CPO) prices have been taking a beating since September, dipping 19.26% to around RM2,481 per tonne on Jan 23.
The CPO price decline is basically due to higher inventories and weaker demand.
