VEGOILS-Palm rises on bargain-hunting, weaker ringgit

* Palm earlier fell to 2,399 rgt/tonne, lowest in over one

week

* Soyoil gains added to palm's rise - trader

(Updates with closing prices, quote)

By Emily Chow

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

recovered from a one-week low on Thursday and ended trading

higher on the back of bargain-buying and a weaker ringgit

, its currency of trade.

Gains in the Chicago Board of Trade soyoil also lent support

to the market, said traders.

The benchmark palm oil contract for August delivery

on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 0.8

percent at 2,432 ringgit ($613.06) a tonne at the close of

trade. Earlier in the session, it hit the lowest since May 8 at

2,399 ringgit.

Trading volume stood at 45,537 lots of 25 tonnes each at the

on Thursday evening.

"A weaker ringgit is seen supporting the market," said a

Kuala Lumpur based trader, as a weaker ringgit typically makes

palm oil cheaper for holders of foreign currencies.

The ringgit fell 0.1 percent on Thursday evening to 3.9670

per dollar. It has lost 0.5 percent since the start of the week.

Traders said the market rose earlier on bargain hunting

gains in U.S. soyoil but lacked bullish news for long-term

support.

"We're seeing some bargain-hunting, but it seems like the

market has no supportive news to push it higher," said a futures

trader in Kuala Lumpur.

Demand for Malaysian palm oil has waned in recent weeks,

according to export data from industry players.

Exports in the first half of May fell 13.7 percent-14.9

percent from a month earlier, showed data from inspection

company AmSpec Agri Malaysia and cargo surveyor Societe Generale

de Surveillance.

The demand slowdown could be attributed to Malaysia's

resumption of a crude palm oil export tax, which was set at 5

percent for May following four months of suspension, said

traders.

In related oils, the Chicago July soybean oil contract

was up 0.5 percent on Thursday.

Palm oil is impacted by movements in rival edible oils as

they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices, as of 1221 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL JUN8 2420 +16.00 2391 2422 2647

MY PALM OIL JUL8 2427 +17.00 2394 2429 9198

MY PALM OIL AUG8 2432 +18.00 2399 2435 17793

CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP8 0 +0.00 0 0 0

CHINA SOYOIL SEP8 0 +0.00 0 0 0

CBOT SOY OIL JUL8 30.74 +0.15 30.6 30.85 8142

INDIA PALM OIL MAY8 650.00 +0.60 646.00 651.7 588

INDIA SOYOIL MAY8 751 -0.10 749 753 1300

NYMEX CRUDE JUN8 72.08 +0.59 71.49 72.30 157605

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 = 3.9670 ringgit)

($1 = 67.7300 Indian rupees)

($1 = 6.3664 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Emily Chow; editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Jason

Neely)