KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 7): Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Tuesday after a long weekend, tracking gains in overnight soy markets and fuelling hopes that rains and frost over parts of the U.S. grain belt could crimp bumper crops of rival oilseeds.

On Monday, Chicago soybean prices surged 3.3 percent to notch the biggest one-day gain in nearly 13 months, as rains in parts of the U.S. Midwest delayed harvesting and weekend frost raised worries of potential crop damage.

U.S. soyoil futures also rose sharply by about 100 points on Monday, traders said, lifting palm markets. Palm typically tracks soy markets as they are both food and fuel substitutes.

"Soybean oil rose in late hours on Monday, giving the push to crude palm oil to rise higher," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.

The benchmark December contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 0.5 percent to 2,180 ringgit ($669) per tonne by Tuesday's close, with prices caught in a tight range between 2,176 and 2,204 ringgit.

Total traded volume stood at 28,625 lots of 25 tonnes each, below the average 35,000 lots.

Trading activity has been slow with China's financial markets closed from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7 for the National Day holiday.    

The U.S. soyoil contract for December had edged down 0.7 percent in late Asian trade after hitting a near three-week high on Monday.    

Technicals showed palm oil is expected to retest support at 2,142 ringgit per tonne, with a good chance of breaking below this level and falling more towards 2,055 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.       

Palm oil end-stocks in Malaysia, the world's second-largest grower of the tropical commodity, are expected to hold steady at 2.05 million tonnes, a Reuters survey showed on Tuesday, as a removal of export taxes did not boost shipments as much as initially hoped.

The median survey of planters, analysts and traders estimate September exports rose 11.3 percent to 1.6 million tonnes, and crude palm oil production fell 8 percent to 1.87 million tonnes.

Official data on stocks, output and exports for end-September will be released by industry regulator the Malaysian Palm Oil Board on Friday.

In other markets, Brent crude oil fell towards $92 a barrel on Tuesday, pushing towards 27-month lows as weak demand and ample supply outweighed the price support from a weaker dollar.


Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1018 GMT

Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
MY PALM OIL      OCT4    2206   +19.00    2206    2211      47
MY PALM OIL      NOV4    2194   +11.00    2192    2213    1913
MY PALM OIL      DEC4    2180   +11.00    2176    2204   15308
CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN5       0    +0.00       0       0       0
CHINA SOYOIL     JAN5    5898   +62.00    5890    5958  313544
CBOT SOY OIL     DEC4   33.22    -3.40   33.15   33.57    6337
INDIA PALM OIL   OCT4  461.50    -3.40  461.00  465.00     759
INDIA SOYOIL     OCT4  608.85    -4.40  607.30  617.80   21550
NYMEX CRUDE      NOV4   89.95    -0.39   89.67   90.57   21917

Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel

($1 = 3.258 Malaysian ringgit)
($1 = 6.1395 Chinese yuan)
($1 = 61.40 Indian rupees)