VEGOILS-Palm rises to near 2-week high on stronger crude oil

* Market supported by positive global sentiment - trader

* Palm may gain further into 2,056-2,074 rgt/T range - Techs

By Emily Chow

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures

rose over 1 percent in first-half trade on Thursday, touching a

near two-week high, on stronger crude oil prices and improved

global market sentiment, said traders.

The benchmark palm oil contract for February delivery

on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 1.2

percent at 2,057 ringgit ($492.11) a tonne at the midday break.

Earlier in the session, it rose to 2,062 ringgit, its strongest

since Dec. 3.

Trading volumes stood at 16,958 lots of 25 tonnes each at

the midday break. (1FCPO-TOT)

"The palm market is riding on global positive sentiment and

stronger overnight crude oil prices as well as soybean oil,"

said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader, referring to U.S. soyoil

prices on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Crude oil prices rose on Thursday, buoyed by a drawdown in

U.S. crude inventories and signs that China is taking more

concrete steps to put a trade war truce with Washington into

action.

Palm oil prices are impacted by movements of crude oil, as

the edible oil is used as feedstock to make biodiesel. It is

also affected by changes in soyoil prices, as they compete for a

share in the global vegetable oil market.

China on Wednesday made its first major purchases of U.S.

soybeans since President Donald Trump and his Chinese

counterpart Xi Jinping struck a trade war truce earlier this

month, providing some relief to U.S. farmers who have struggled

to find buyers for their record-large harvest.

The Chicago January soybean oil contract gained 0.3

percent in the previous trading session, and was trading flat

around 0500 GMT on Thursday.

In other related oils, the January soybean oil contract on

the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.5 percent, and the

Dalian January palm oil contract declined 0.2 percent.

Palm oil may gain further into a range of 2,056-2,074

ringgit per tonne, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for

commodities and energy technicals.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0505 GMT:

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL DEC8 0 +0.00 0 0 0

MY PALM OIL JAN9 1968 +32.00 1928 1970 531

MY PALM OIL FEB9 2057 +25.00 2023 2062 7405

CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN9 4072 -8.00 4050 4096 42364

CHINA SOYOIL JAN9 5064 -24.00 5052 5088 80518

CBOT SOY OIL JAN9 28.8 +0.00 0 0 0

INDIA PALM OIL DEC8 506.50 +2.80 505.90 507.5 157

INDIA SOYOIL DEC8 744.85 -0.45 743 744.85 30

NYMEX CRUDE JAN9 51.31 +0.16 51.20 51.47 34785

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 = 4.1800 ringgit)

($1 = 71.6510 Indian rupees)

($1 = 6.8723 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)