15/03/2013 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Friday on bargain-hunting after three straight sessions of losses, with traders expecting seasonally lower production and firm exports to help stocks ease further.

Palm oil posted a loss of 1.3 percent for the week, weighed down by a weak soy market suffering from poor export demand and higher South American supply.

But market participants said they were still counting on a seasonal decline in output to help ease stocks and support prices, especially after cargo surveyor data on Friday showed firm export demand.   

"We see some retracement in an oversold market," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.

"For the past few days external markets like Dalian and CBOT soybean oil were a little weak, but they have pulled back up a bit, so our market is adjusting to it."   

The benchmark May contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had gained 2.2 percent to 2,415 ringgit ($774) per tonne by the market close. Prices fell to 2,360 ringgit on Thursday, the lowest level since Jan. 14.

Total traded volume stood at 35,268 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

Technical analysis suggests palm oil is expected to rebound to 2,426 ringgit per tonne, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products from March 1 to 15 inched up 0.2 percent to 675,210 tonnes from 673,555 tonnes shipped during Feb. 1 to 15, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Friday.       

Malaysia, the world's No.2 palm oil producer, will set its crude palm oil export tax for April at 4.5 percent, unchanged from March, a government circular showed on Friday.

In other markets, Brent crude oil rose above $109 a barrel on Friday as strong U.S. jobs data fuelled hopes of a better outlook for demand in the world's top oil consumer, while concerns over supply from the Middle East added support. 

In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for May delivery inched up 0.9 percent in late Asian trade. The most-active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange also gained 1.4 percent.    

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1007 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      MAR3       0    +0.00       0       0       0
  MY PALM OIL      APR3    2401   +49.00    2359    2422     760
  MY PALM OIL      MAY3    2415   +51.00    2371    2432   16733
  CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP3    6362   +72.00    6252    6390  742690
  CHINA SOYOIL     SEP3    8136  +114.00    8010    8144  908346
  CBOT SOY OIL     MAY3   49.79    +0.45   49.34   50.01    7385
  NYMEX CRUDE      APR3   93.12    +0.09   93.03   93.37   12444

  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=3.12 ringgit)