KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — Plantation counters hogged the limelight on Bursa Malaysia Securities today, recording gains across the board prompted by the bullish price outlook painted by several industry analysts at the Palm and Lauric Oil Conference and Exhibition (POC) 2014.

At 3.36pm, the Plantation Index was up 121.24 points at 8,916.95 points.

Among the top gainers were Genting Plantations, which soared 30 sen to RM11, while PPB and KLK chalked up 24 sen each to RM16.60 and RM23.88 respectively.

FGV rose 7 sen to RM4.60 and IOI Corp added 3 sen to RM4.76.

Positive sentiment was noted since mid-morning for these counters, boosted by the short-term and long-term price projections made for the golden crop by international experts at the conference, which ended yesterday.

Leading analyst Dorab Mistry said CPO prices were expected to trade between RM2,600 and RM2,900 per tonne aided by high demand, tight inventories and reduced production as a result of drought.

Mistry, who heads the vegetable oil trading arm of India’s Godrej Industries, said prices could also receive a boost from Indonesia’s biofuel industry.

James Fry, chairman of the UK-based LMC International Ltd, said prices could appreciate to slightly above RM3,000 per tonne for palm oil and RM4,500 per tonne for palm kernel oil.

Malaysia and Indonesia are the top two producers of palm oil in the world, accounting for about 85 per cent of global output.

Yesterday, the benchmark May crude palm oil futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed at a 17-month high of RM2,834 a tonne. — Bernama