SINGAPORE, May 16: Malaysian palm oil futures tumbled to their lowest in more than three months on Wednesday, as traders feared a prolonged political crisis in Greece could slow the global growth momentum and dampen commodity demand.

Greece’s warring parties have refused to form a viable coalition, triggering new elections that could potentially result in a euro zone exit.

The political uncertainty that dragged down global stocks and commodities also sent palm oil futures to a 2.8 per cent year-to-date loss, compared to a more than 5 per cent gain just a week ago.

“Palm is not spared from the broad-based selling as commodities including crude oil, gold, silver, soybeans and soybean oil are all dropping,” said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.

“People are just getting out the market. External factors are putting on a lot of pressure.”

Benchmark August palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 3.9 per cent or 124 ringgit to close at 3,085 ringgit ($990) per ton. Prices earlier hit a low at 3,052 ringgit, a level last seen on February 2.

Traded volumes stood at 63,019 lots of 25 tons each, more than double the usual 25,000 lots as traders rushed in to liquidate their positions.—Reuters