KUALA LUMPUR, The crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed higher on Monday amid expected high demand ahead of the Deepavali festival, said Fastmarkets senior analyst Sathia Varqa. Deepavali will be celebrated on Oct 31 and the festival is anticipated to drive strong demand for cooking oils, boosting CPO futures. The analyst told Bernama that the market is now waiting for the Malaysia Aug 1-20 export data, which is scheduled to be released tomorrow, to chart for market direction. Meanwhile, palm oil trader David Ng said stronger soybean oil prices also helped to lift the market sentiment. 'We see support at RM3,650 a tonne and resistance at RM3,850 a tonne,' he said. At the close, spot month September 2024 contract increased by RM52 to RM3,924 a tonne, October 2024 inched up by RM52 to RM3,804 a tonne, and November 2024 rose by RM40 to RM3,721 a tonne. December 2024 gained RM27 to RM3,686 a tonne, January 2025 improved by RM19 to RM3,672 a tonne, and February 2025 surg ed by RM13 to RM3,668 a tonne. Total volume rose to 70,934 lots from Friday's close of 62,644 lots, while open interest increased to 228,716 contracts from 225,277 contracts previously. The physical CPO price for August South increased by RM30 to RM3,950 per tonne. Source: BERNAMA News Agency