08/06/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Thursday, tracking lower crude oil as investors turned cautious on prospects of the United States introducing fresh monetary stimulus and European policymakers rescuing Spanish banks.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to testify on the U.S. economy before a congressional committee later in the day, and investors will be watching closely for any clues to policy that could boost global growth and commodity demand.

Palm oil has been recovering on bargain hunting after plunging to its 2012 low on Monday. But the market returned to the red on Thursday as most investors were still waiting for further cues before jumping in.

"The market is playing a waiting game," said a dealer with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.

"Traders are awaiting Bernanke's talk tonight and also Dorab's talk later in the day," he added, referring to top oils analyst Dorab Mistry, who is set to speak at a palm oil trade fair in India.

Benchmark August palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 1 percent to close at 2,974 ringgit ($941) per tonne. Prices touched a low of 2,925 ringgit on Monday, their lowest since Nov 2, 2011.

Traded volumes stood at 34,801 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

On the technicals front, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao took a bullish view, saying palm oil would rebound further to 3,091 ringgit per tonne.

Malaysian fundamentals remained supportive on firm demand for the tropical oil as Muslims prepare to observe a month of fasting starting in mid-July. Cargo surveyors will release export data on Monday for the first 10 days of June.

Market players were also betting on lower palm oil stocks, which probably fell to a 13-month low in May, as overseas demand and domestic consumption outweighed production, a Reuters median survey showed on Wednesday.

Industry regulator the Malaysian Palm Oil Board will issue official stocks data, also on Monday.

Brent crude dipped on Thursday due to slack demand while prices were supported around $100 by signs Europe would find a way to deal with Spain's banking crisis and the United States might embark on monetary stimulus.

In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for July delivery was almost flat in late Asian trade while the most active Jan 2013 soyoil contract on the Dalian commodity exchange inched up 0.4 percent. 

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1005 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      JUN2    3000   +11.00    2954    3000      62
  MY PALM OIL      JUL2    2980   -23.00    2950    3036    1728
  MY PALM OIL      AUG2    2974   -29.00    2944    3039   22967
  CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN3    7782   +18.00    7760    7858  181480
  CHINA SOYOIL     JAN3    9176   +40.00    9148    9248  345322
  CBOT SOY OIL     JUL2   49.25    +0.00   48.97   49.61    7149
  NYMEX CRUDE      JUL2   84.78    -0.25   84.51   85.75   20779

  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=3.159 Malaysian ringgit)