19/01/2013 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Friday on steady buying ahead of the weekend, brushing aside concerns that India's new import duties could potentially hurt demand and leave bulging stockpiles at record highs.

India, the world's biggest buyer of vegetable oils, slapped a 2.5 percent import duty on crude edible oils on Thursday, triggering a fall of 2.1 percent in prices of palm oil on fears the taxes would take a further toll on exports which have been sluggish in January.

But traders say India's move, aimed at trimming a hefty import bill and protecting its domestic oilseed industry, is smaller than expected and not drastic enough to hurt demand.

"Earlier there was talk about much higher taxes, but they came up with this because India still needs oil," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.

The benchmark April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 0.8 percent up at 2,399 ringgit ($796) per tonne, posting a weekly gain of 1.3 percent.

Total traded volume stood at 44,307 lots of 25 tonnes each, almost double the usual 25,000 lots as investors hedged positions ahead of the weekend.

Technical analysis showed that Malaysian palm oil will display mixed signals as long as prices remain in a range of 2,332 to 2,449 ringgit per tonne, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said.

Record high palm oil stocks in Malaysia, the world's No.2 producer, have caused prices to tumble more than 20 percent in 2012, widening palm oil's discount to competing soybean oil and making it the cheapest vegetable oil in the market.

But despite Malaysia's zero export duty tax structure, which it will retain next month, exports have been dismal in the first half of January. 

"Going forward, a lot depends on the export pace and whether prices are low enough to encourage demand," said ANZ agricultural and commodity strategist Victor Thianpiriya in Singapore.

"Prices need to find that point which encourages exports. The market is going to do whatever it needs to stimulate enough exports to get stocks lower," he added.

Brent crude held above $111 per barrel on Friday, supported by a rebound in China's growth and encouraging data from the United States, following a steep jump in the previous session triggered partly by an Algerian crisis.

The U.S. soyoil for March delivery edged down 0.3 percent in late Asian trade. The most active May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.9 percent.    

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1013 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      FEB3    2360   +17.00    2355    2370     263
  MY PALM OIL      MAR3    2384   +23.00    2360    2402    6074
  MY PALM OIL      APR3    2399   +20.00    2377    2418   21102
  CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY3    6746    -4.00    6652    6750  537290
  CHINA SOYOIL     SEP3    8782   +82.00    8650    8790  490308
  CBOT SOY OIL     MAR3   51.36    -0.13   51.22   51.70    5639
  NYMEX CRUDE      FEB3   95.33    -0.17   95.12   95.67    7642

  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=3.0140 ringgit)