KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 27): Malaysian palm oil futures rose in early trade on Tuesday and were headed for a third straight session of gains, supported by overnight strength in rival oilseed soyoil on the U.S. Chicago Board of Trade.

The benchmark palm oil contract for May delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.4 percent at RM2,549 ($651.92) a tonne at the midday break.
 
It hit a two-week high of RM2,555 in the previous session, and has gained 2.3 percent so far this month.   

Trading volumes stood at 8,371 lots of 25 tonnes each at the midday break on Tuesday.

"Palm rose tracking yesterday's U.S. soyoil and this morning's Dalian refined, bleached and deodorized palm olein," said a Kuala Lumpur-based futures trader.
 
Palm oil prices are impacted by movements in rival edible oils as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

The Chicago Board of Trade's March soybean oil contract rose 0.8 percent on Monday, in line with soybeans, lifted by weather forecasts indicating little rain relief for parched crop belts in Argentina, the world's third-largest soybean exporter. It was last down 0.1 percent on Tuesday.

In other related oils, the May soybean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange edged down 0.03 percent, while the Dalian May palm oil contract was up 0.4 percent. It rose over 1 percent in the previous session.

Palm oil is poised to break a resistance at RM2,562 per tonne and rise more towards the next resistance at RM2,592, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.