28/04/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures ended slightly higher on Friday as tight soybean supplies from Argentina trumped concerns triggered by a Spanish debt downgrade, with traders awaiting export data on Monday for more clues on price movements.

Palm oil ended the week only 0.1 percent higher compared to a week ago, with investor sentiment caught in a tug of war between tight global oilseed supply due to bad weather in Argentina and concerns about euro zone debt.

"The market is a bit quiet today ahead of the weekend. There is no direction as traders are waiting for developments in the market, plus price movements in CBOT and Dalian soybean oil look insignificant," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia.

"The market looks to be rangebound between 3,480 and 3,520 ringgit."

Benchmark July palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange inched up 0.1 percent to close at 3,505 ringgit ($1,151) per tonne.

Traded volumes were thin at 21,059 lots of 25 tonnes each, compared to the usual 25,000 lots.

Malaysian palm oil exports for the first 25 days of the month recovered compared to April 1-20, although the numbers were still lower than a month ago.

Traders attributed the improvement to stronger demand from major food buyers China and India as well as the biodiesel industry in Europe, with the focus now shifting to full-month export numbers due on Monday.

One of Argentina's biggest grains exchanges cut another million tonnes off its 2011/12 soy crop forecasts on Thursday, citing poor yields, adding to bullishness supporting palm oil prices.

But investor enthusiasm was tempered after Standard & Poor's lowered its credit rating on Spain by two notches to BBB-plus on Thursday, raising new fears about the lingering euro zone debt crisis.

Palm oil will likely head towards 3,397 ringgit after testing support at 3,439 ringgit per tonne, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.  

Oil prices dipped below $120 a barrel on Friday on renewedfears about the state of the debt-ravaged eurozone economies following a downgrade of Spain's credit rating.

In other vegetable oil markets, the most active U.S. soyoil contract for May was almost flat, while the most active Dalian soyoil September contract inched up 0.1 percent. 

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1007 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      MAY2    3486   -24.00    3477    3502     801
  MY PALM OIL      JUN2    3509    -7.00    3495    3519    2026
  MY PALM OIL      JUL2    3505    +5.00    3483    3513   13645
  CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP2    8774   +16.00    8760    8798   99450
  CHINA SOYOIL     SEP2    9946   +10.00    9928    9968  288440
  CBOT SOY OIL     JUL2   55.85    +0.10   55.65   55.92    9545
  NYMEX CRUDE      JUN2  104.07    -0.48  103.74  104.30   12616

  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 = 3.05 ringgit)