VEGOILS-Palm edges down on overnight soyoil losses

* Weaker ringgit limits palm declines -trader

* Market sentiment weak on slow demand -trader

(Updates with closing prices)

By Emily Chow

KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures

edged down slightly at the close of trade on Tuesday, tracking

overnight losses in soyoil, but remained largely range-bound as

a weaker ringgit offset losses, traders said.

A weaker ringgit, palm's currency of trade, typically

supports the tropical oil by making it cheaper for holders of

other currencies. The ringgit weakened 0.1 percent against the

dollar on Tuesday and was last at 4.0445.

The benchmark palm oil contract for October delivery

on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was down

0.1 percent at 2,171 ringgit ($536.78) a tonne at the end of the

trading day, near a three-year low hit on Friday.

Trading volume stood at 61,574 lots of 25 tonnes each.

(1FCPO-TOT)

"Palm is following the overnight drop in the rival oilseed,

but its current recovery and weakness in the local currency may

cushion selling activities," a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said,

referring to U.S. soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Another trader said that overall market sentiment was still

weak because of muted demand, though cargo surveyor data showed

that the decline in exports has been easing.

Malaysia palm oil exports fell 2.7 percent in the first half

of July from the previous month, according to data from

inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia, compared with a 14.4

percent decline for the July 1-10 period.

Cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance reported an

8.8 percent decline in Malaysian palm oil exports for the July

1-15 period, versus a 23.1 percent fall in the June 1-10 period.

In related oils, the Chicago December soybean oil contract

fell more than 1 percent on Monday but was last up 0.1

percent.

Meanwhile, the September soybean oil contract on China's

Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.7 percent and the

Dalian September palm oil contract was also up 0.7

percent.

Palm oil prices are usually affected by the performance of

other edible oils that compete for a share in the global

vegetable oils market.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1046 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL AUG8 2163 +19.00 2149 2163 1073

MY PALM OIL SEP8 2168 +3.00 2159 2177 10948

MY PALM OIL OCT8 2170 -2.00 2164 2182 16866

CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP8 4638 +32.00 4622 4666 191578

CHINA SOYOIL SEP8 5478 +36.00 5448 5494 156108

CBOT SOY OIL DEC8 28.12 +0.05 28.09 28.31 5252

INDIA PALM OIL JUL8 612.00 -0.70 610.00 613.8 422

INDIA SOYOIL JUL8 741.5 -2.70 740 744 3040

NYMEX CRUDE AUG8 68.07 +0.01 67.66 68.42 82726

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 = 4.0445 ringgit)

($1 = 68.4200 Indian rupees)

($1 = 6.6847 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Emily Chow

Editing by Sunil Nair and David Goodman)