By Jae Hur Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Palm oil declined for the first time in four days after Malaysian exports declined, crude oil’s advance stalled and investors booked profits ahead the Christmas and New Year break. Prices fell as Malaysia’s palm oil exports dropped to 858,307 metric tons in the first 20 days of December from 930,133 tons in the same period in November, independent market surveyor Intertek said today. Crude fell as much as 0.6 percent before trading unchanged at $73.36 a barrel. “We are now heading into the Christmas and year-end holidays, prompting investors to take profits,” Merlissa Paramitha Trisno, an analyst at PT Mandiri Sekuritas in Jakarta, said today by phone. The market was also under pressure from slowing exports from Malaysia and after crude oil fell, Trisno said. March-delivery futures fell as much as 2.5 percent to 2,555 ringgit ($743) a ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange and were at 2,563 ringgit by 12:30 p.m. local time break. To contact the reporter on this story: Jae Hur in Tokyo at jhur1@bloomberg.net

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