21/02/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed off an eight-month high on Monday, as China's policy easing buoyed sentiment, while an improvement in demand prospects and technical outlook also provided support.

Major palm oil consumer China cut its reserve requirement ratio on Saturday for the first time this year in a move to boost liquidity and stimulate economic growth, improving demand prospects for the edible oil.

Hopes that Greece will be able to secure a second bailout package on Monday also lifted the palm oil futures market, which has gained 2.2 percent so far this year.

"Recently the market is quite strong and it could be due to exports and seasonality reasons such as weaker production," said Selena Leong, an analyst at DMG & Partners Research.

"Another reason is that it could be technically driven. There was a technical breakout last Friday and in the near term the market could hit higher," the analyst added.

Benchmark May palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange inched up 0.1 percent to 3,245 ringgit ($1,075) per tonne, but off the day's high of 3,276 ringgit, a level last seen on June 15.

Traded volumes stood at 21,096 lots of 25 tonnes each, slightly thinner than the usual 25,000 lots.

On the technicals side, Reuters analyst Wang Tao said palm oil will surge to 3,322 ringgit per tonne based on chart analysis.

In signs of improving demand prospects, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said Malaysian palm oil exports from Feb. 1 to 20 eased just 2 percent to 783,112 tonnes from a month ago.

Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, reported a slight dip of 0.6 percent in palm oil exports for the same period.

That represented an improvement from the decline of 14 percent seen for the first 15 days of the month.

Market players attributed higher crude palm oil exports to the tax-free export quotas of 3 million tonnes issued early this February after weeks of delay.

Brent crude rose on Monday to above $121 a barrel, the highest in eight months, as Iran halted exports to British and French companies ahead of a European Union embargo, while policy easing by China and hopes for a Greek bailout also buoyed prices.

The Chicago Board of Trade was closed today for a public holiday while the most active September 2012 soyoil contract on China's Dalian Commodity exchange rose 0.4 percent on stronger global markets.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1004 GMT
                                                                     
  Contract                       Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL              MAR2    3224   +11.00    3221    3240     282
  MY PALM OIL              APR2    3237    +6.00    3235    3272    4438
  MY PALM OIL              MAY2    3245    +3.00    3241    3276   11126
  CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP2    8334   +58.00    8326    8410  146592
  CHINA SOYOIL          SEP2    9376   +40.00    9362    9446  346728
  CBOT SOY OIL           MAR2   53.40    +0.35   53.00   53.76   42571
  NYMEX CRUDE         MAR2  104.84    +1.60  104.26  105.21    4339
                                                                     
  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
         
* Bursa Malaysia holds its annual Palm and Lauric Oils
  Conference & Exhibition Price Outlook 2012 from March 5 to 7 in
  Kuala Lumpur. For details, see www.pocmalaysia.com
  ($1=3.019 ringgit)