16/05/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rebounded on Tuesday, supported by bargain hunting after prices fell to a three-month low in the previous session, although concerns remained that demand could be hit if Greece exits the euro zone. 

Buying interest picked up as some traders felt that the market was oversold. Malaysian exports for the first 15 days showed a slight improvement, reinforcing the view that palm oil fundamentals remained solid despite global economic uncertainty.

"We see a small recovery today because selling was a bit overdone yesterday and exports were also slightly better," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. 

"But sentiment is still weak because of external factors, especially when we talk about Greece and the revival of uncertainty in Europe." 

Benchmark July palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 2.4 percent to close at 3,226 ringgit ($1,048) per tonne. Prices closed at 3,150 ringgit on Monday, the weakest since Feb. 13. Traded volumes stood at 34,697 lots of 25 tonnes each, much higher than the usual 25,000 lots. 

Malaysian palm oil exports for first 15 days of May picked up by a slight 0.7 percent to 599,044 tonnes, according to cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services, reflecting a still-healthy demand for the edible oil.  

Another cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance meanwhile reported a 7 percent drop in exports to 564,477 tonnes, thanks to lower shipments to China and India.  

But traders said the lower exports did not weigh on prices much as they do not necessarily indicate weaker demand and especially in an already-oversold market.     

In the latest development of an upcoming listing of Malaysian palm oil firm Felda Global Venture Holdings (FGVH), commodities group Louis Dreyfus has agreed to take a minority stake in Felda, it said on Monday.

Brent crude futures inched up above $122 a barrel, rebounding after earlier losses triggered by Greece's political and economic turmoil.  

In other vegetable oil markets, the most active U.S. soyoil contract for July gained 0.6 percent in late Asian trade while the most active Dalian soyoil September contract  was down 0.8 percent.            

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1018 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      MAY2    3196   +41.00    3196    3200      15
  MY PALM OIL      JUN2    3229   +76.00    3169    3239    2188
  MY PALM OIL      JUL2    3226   +76.00    3155    3230   19737
  CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP2    8230  -104.00    8170    8256  174364
  CHINA SOYOIL     SEP2    9362   -72.00    9282    9374  378936
  CBOT SOY OIL     JUL2   51.63    +0.33   51.10   51.65    8740
  NYMEX CRUDE      JUN2   94.79    +0.01   93.91   95.04   23731

  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 = 3.08 ringgit)