09/05/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures closed lower on Tuesday, as investors fretted over the growing uncertainty in the euro zone after key elections and the weak U.S. economic data that cast doubts over the state of global economy.

Elections in France and Greece that produced changes in the political scene that may endanger austerity measures in the euro zone and disappointing U.S. jobs data pushed prices to a low at 3,311 ringgit on Monday, a level last seen on March 12.

Palm oil market pulled back before the midday break but bearish sentiment eventually dominated the market, paring gains this year to 5.5 percent.

"Cloudy outlook on formation of new governements in Europe still haunts market sentiment," said a dealer with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.

 "This selloff towards the end is likely to be shortlived as bullish expectation is growing on the MPOB (Malaysian Palm Oil Board) and USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) planting report due Thursday." 

Benchmark July palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 0.3 percent to close at 3,351 ringgit ($1,097) per tonne.

Traded volumes stood at 32,797 lots of 25 tonnes each, much higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

On the technicals front, palm oil will end its rebound in a resistance zone of 3,388-3,412 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

But palm oil fundamentals look healthy as cargo surveyor data showed a strong export growth in April, which could have pushed palm oil stocks to a one-year low.

Market consensus showed that April stocks should continue to stay below the psychological 2-million-tonne mark, a Reuters median survey showed on Monday.

But some traders said that prices will likely not go up on expectation of lower stocks as it has already been priced in.

Industry regulator Malaysian Palm Oil Board will issue official data on output and stocks on Thursday.

Brent crude oil fell below $113 a barrel on Tuesday in a fifth day of losses as economic slowdown on both sides of the Atlantic deepened fears of lower oil demand at time of ample supply from major oil producers.  

In other vegetable oil markets, the most active U.S. soyoil contract for July gained 0.6 percent while the most active Dalian soyoil September contract also increased by 0.5 percent.     

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1020 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      MAY2    3355   -13.00    3355    3395     262
  MY PALM OIL      JUN2    3359   -10.00    3359    3395    3550
  MY PALM OIL      JUL2    3351    -9.00    3351    3388   19633
  CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP2    8582   +42.00    8554    8614  111838
  CHINA SOYOIL     SEP2    9712   +48.00    9676    9738  347528
  CBOT SOY OIL     JUL2   53.88    +0.30   53.62   53.97    6742
  NYMEX CRUDE      JUN2   96.92    -1.02   96.71   98.12   22588

  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 = 3.05 ringgit)