25/05/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures ended higher on Thursday on bargain hunting after a big sell-off the previous day, although gains were curbed as fears over the euro zone crisis dampened sentiment.

The uncertainty surrounding the debt crisis dragged palm oil down to its lowest in 2012 on Wednesday, attracting buyers to take up the edible oil at cheaper prices.

Firm demand for the edible oil indicated by rising export data could also be supportive for futures prices.

"With the Ramadan demand coming in, most of the traders are bullish. So palm oil is still holding above 3,000 ringgit and that could be because of demand," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Singapore, referring to the Muslim fasting month.

The benchmark August palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 1.7 percent to close at 3,069 ringgit ($975) per tonne. Prices touched a five-month low of 2,993 ringgit on Wednesday, a level not seen since Dec. 19. 

Traded volumes stood at 40,959 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots on increased hedging activities because of the global uncertainty. 

Demand appeared to be firm. Cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance both reported a slight increase in shipments for Malaysian palm oil for May 1-20. 

Market players will be watching exports for May 1-25 due on Friday and traders expect better numbers compared with a month ago on growing appetite for the edible oil.

Traders are also watching dry U.S weather that could hurt the soybean crop and the possibility of a return of the El Nino weather pattern that could damage oil palm production in Southeast Asia.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said on Tuesday that the climate models it monitors indicated a possible return of  El Nino, often linked to heavy rainfall and droughts, in the second half of 2012.

Brent crude was steady above $105 per barrel on Thursday, as weak economic data from China added to worries about demand outlook already muddied by the festering euro zone crisis.

In other vegetable oil markets, the most active U.S. soyoil contract for July climbed 1.1 percent, recovering from the previous day sell-off, while the most active Dalian soyoil September contract lost 0.1 percent.

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1010 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      JUN2    3060   +45.00    3010    3060     421
  MY PALM OIL      JUL2    3073   +54.00    3003    3077    3535
  MY PALM OIL      AUG2    3069   +50.00    3000    3075   24186
  CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP2    7926   -20.00    7828    7928  221750
  CHINA SOYOIL     SEP2    9128   -12.00    9030    9136  375354
  CBOT SOY OIL     JUL2   49.48    +0.57   49.09   49.70   11718
  NYMEX CRUDE      JUL2   90.62    +0.72   89.81   90.81   24694

  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=3.15 ringgit)