* Malaysia's April stocks seen falling to 2.04 mln tonnes
-Reuters poll
* Official stocks data and May 1-10 exports data due Friday
* Palm oil may rebound to 2,335 ringgit -technicals
(Updates prices)
By Chew Yee Kiat
SINGAPORE, May 8 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rose
to a one-week high on Wednesday, pulling away from near
five-month lows plumbed earlier in the week, as investors eyed a
potential fall in stocks in the world's second-largest producer
of the edible oil.
Malaysia's April palm oil stocks likely fell 6.1 percent to
2.04 million tonnes, with domestic consumption and exports
outstripping a rise in output, a Reuters survey of five
plantation companies showed.
Industry regulator the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) will
release official data stocks and output on Friday.
"The market is a bit bullish on the coming MPOB stocks data.
On the physical side, there is some tightness in terms of
cargoes for nearby months and people have come to notice this
tightness," said a Singapore-based trader with a global
commodities house.
The benchmark July contract on the Bursa Malaysia
Derivatives Exchange rose 1.3 percent to close at 2,290 ringgit
($773) per tonne, slightly below the intraday high at 2,294
ringgit, a level last seen on April 30.
Total traded volumes were thin at 23,202 lots of 25 tonnes
each, compared to an average of 35,000 lots.
Technicals were bullish with Malaysian palm oil expected to
test resistance at 2,295 ringgit per tonne, a break above which
will lead to a further gain to 2,335 ringgit, said Reuters
market analyst Wang Tao.
Traders will also be looking for an improvement in
Malaysia's palm oil exports data for May 1-10 due on Friday,
after cargo surveyors reported slowing exports in April.
Shares of Wilmar International Ltd rose as much as
3 percent in early trade on Wednesday after the Singapore palm
oil firm posted a 23 percent rise in first-quarter net profit,
largely due to a recovery in its oilseeds and grains segment.
In other markets, Oil steadied above $104 a barrel after a
rise in crude imports by the world's No.2 consumer, China,
though concerns about global demand kept a lid on prices.
In vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for July delivery
gained 0.2 percent in late Asian trade. The most-active
September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities
Exchange edged up 0.3 percent.
Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1002 GMT
Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume
MY PALM OIL MAY3 2290 +52.00 2269 2290 401
MY PALM OIL JUN3 2281 +23.00 2269 2286 1146
MY PALM OIL JUL3 2290 +30.00 2266 2294 11557
CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP3 5986 +54.00 5914 5996 582908
CHINA SOYOIL SEP3 7410 +22.00 7350 7426 904162
CBOT SOY OIL JUL3 49.23 +0.09 49.07 49.50 4645
NYMEX CRUDE JUN3 95.37 -0.25 95.24 95.98 20082
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
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
($1=2.96 ringgit)
(Editing by Richard Pullin and Himani Sarkar)
