* Palm hits highest level since April 5

* Palm has strongest daily pct gain since Sept. 25

* Boost from soyoil rally, weaker output forecasts - Traders

* Palm targets 2,814 rgt/T - Technicals

(Updates latest prices, quotes)

18/10/2016 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil surged to its highest level in about six months in on Monday, tracking a rally in its rival oilseed soy and gaining on forecasts of weaker production growth for the month of October.

The weakness in the ringgit, palm's traded currency, also lent support to the market, as it makes the tropical oil cheaper for foreign currency holders. It fell 0.4 percent to reach 4.2150 against the dollar in the evening.

Benchmark palm oil futures for January on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose 4.1 percent to 2,768 ringgit ($666) a tonne at the end of the trading day, its strongest daily gain in over a year. It also hit an intraday high of 2,778 ringgit, its highest level since April 5.

Traded volumes stood at 56,392 lots of 25 tonnes each on Monday evening, higher than the 2015 daily average of 44,600 lots.

Palm oil primarily rose after strong gains in soyoil, said three traders based in Kuala Lumpur, while other factors such as slower output growth and the weakening ringgit lent support to the market.

"We're getting more news from planters that production is not as good as it could be," said a trader, reflecting the lagging effects of last year's crop-damaging El Nino.

"We're also entering the monsoon season, and are seeing heavy rains in Johor," added the trader, explaining that rains from the year-end monsoon season could disrupt palm oil production in the short term.

Palm oil prices are also influenced by soyoil's performance, because they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

The December soybean oil contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 1.9 percent, while the January soybean oil contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange jumped 5 percent.

Soyoil prices was supported by news of Chinese soybean importers signing agreements to buy 5.1 million tonnes of U.S.soybeans late Friday night.

In other related oils, the January contract for palm olein on the Dalian Commodity Exchange surged 5 percent on Monday.

A bullish target at 2,814 ringgit per tonne has been established for palm oil, according to technical analysis by Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1056 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL NOV6 2781 +100.00 2748 2786 1619

MY PALM OIL DEC6 2771 +110.00 2733 2779 17879

MY PALM OIL JAN7 2769 +110.00 2732 2778 21420

CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN7 5722 +272.00 5518 5722 775828

CHINA SOYOIL JAN7 6620 +314.00 6376 6620 1348414

CBOT SOY OIL DEC6 35.02 +0.64 34.44 35.2 17748

INDIA PALM OIL OCT6 537.90 +5.00 534.10 542.5 1179

INDIA SOYOIL OCT6 657.8 +1.75 657.3 663.5 4850

NYMEX CRUDE NOV6 50.27 -0.08 49.94 50.34 56894

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
India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg
Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel

($1 = 4.1550 ringgit)
($1 = 66.5919 Indian rupees)
($1 = 6.6685 Chinese yuan)