16/06/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures closed slightly higher on Friday, driven by rising exports and stronger global markets, although gains were limited by jitters ahead of the Greek polls set for this weekend.

Investors took comfort in the news that major central banks were preparing to take steps to stabilise financial markets, providing support for palm oil prices.

A jump in Malaysian palm oil exports for June 1-15 also suggested that demand remained resilient, but palm oil chalked up a weekly loss of 4.2 percent as the global economic uncertainty outweighed supportive fundamentals.

"The market's a bit higher today, but it didn't go up by much. Traders are staying on the sidelines waiting for this weekend to see how the Greece election is going to turn out," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.

Benchmark August palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained just 0.1 percent to close at 2,848 ringgit ($902) per tonne. Prices earlier touched 2,839 ringgit, a level unseen since Oct. 20, 2011.

Traded volumes stood at 24,632 lots of 25 tonnes each, a tad lower than the usual 25,000 lots, on investor caution.

Malaysian palm oil exports jumped 20 percent to 716,322 tonnes for June 1-15 from a month ago, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said, as major food buyer China ramped up buying. Shipments also picked up as India and Pakistan restock ahead of the Muslim fasting month starting in mid-July.

Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, reported a steeper 28 percent increase for the same period.

Palm oil stock levels remain supportive, with Malaysian palm oil stocks hitting a 13-month low in May, suggesting strong demand was eating into stocks.  

Lower ending stocks for soybeans to be crushed into competing soybean oil also suggested tighter supply and could provide support for palm oil prices.

Oil futures rose towards $98 per barrel on Friday, following gains in the euro and stock markets, following a report that major central banks would step in to stem any possible financial storm after Greek elections this weekend.

In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for July delivery gained 0.8 percent, recovering from previous day's losses. The most active Jan 2013 soyoil contract on the Dalian commodity exchange closed 0.2 percent lower.  

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1008 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      JUN2       0    +0.00       0       0       0
  MY PALM OIL      JUL2    2843    +4.00    2834    2873     337
  MY PALM OIL      AUG2    2848    +2.00    2839    2885   12194
  CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN3    7658   -22.00    7602    7694  412216
  CHINA SOYOIL     JAN3    9132   -14.00    9088    9156  476428
  CBOT SOY OIL     JUL2   48.36    +0.36   48.05   48.80    9183
  NYMEX CRUDE      JUL2   84.55    +0.64   84.16   84.80   17554

  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=3.158 Malaysian ringgit)