19/05/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures ended almost flat on Friday after hitting a near 5-month low, as lingering worries over Greece's potential exit from the euro zone dampened investors' risk appetite.  

Palm oil posted a 5.5 percent weekly loss, the worst since November last year, reflecting the volatility that also dragged down the broader commodities market. 

"The sell down has not happened only to palm oil, it also happened to gold, crude oil and the equities market. Sentiment is very bad," said Alan Lim, research analyst with Malaysia's Kenanga Investment Bank. 

"Volatility can still be expected in the market as the Greek election is still one month away. Fundamentally palm oil is still good, for instance dry weather in the U.S. could indicate a tighter oilseed supply." 

Benchmark August palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained one ringgit to close at 3,096 ringgit ($976) per tonne, after going as low as 3,034 ringgit, a level last seen on Dec. 21 last year. 

Traded volumes stood at 45,218 lots of 25 tonnes each, almost double the usual 25,000 lots.

Traded volumes have been unusually high this week on increased hedging activities, hitting an all-time high of 63,019 lots on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record of 48,741 lots on Nov. 17 last year.

On the demand side, there was no clear direction for Malaysian palm oil exports for the first half of the month as cargo surveyors reported opposite trends.

Malaysian palm oil exports for May 1-15 rose 0.7 percent, according to Intertek Testing Services. Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, however, reported a 7 percent drop for the same period, due to lower shipments to China and India.

Traders will be looking out for the next exports data due on Monday, hoping for a better indication of demand trend. 

On the technicals front, palm oil will fall to 3,019 ringgit per tonne, with a potential downside at 2,971 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Oil prices slipped below $107 a barrel on Friday and hit a 2012 low as investors fought shy of riskier, growth-oriented assets on fears that Greece would leave the euro, and after a downgrade of 16 Spanish banks by Moody's added to the gloom.

In other vegetable oil markets, the most active U.S. soyoil contract for July slipped 0.7 percent in late Asian trade, while the most active Dalian soyoil September contract lost 1.3 percent.   

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1017 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      JUN2    3107    -4.00    3044    3110    1425
  MY PALM OIL      JUL2    3098    -7.00    3041    3111    7344
  MY PALM OIL      AUG2    3096    +1.00    3034    3110   23971
  CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP2    7974  -176.00    7966    8124  300324
  CHINA SOYOIL     SEP2    9188  -116.00    9166    9290  491984
  CBOT SOY OIL     JUL2   50.29    -0.43   50.03   50.80   12167
  NYMEX CRUDE      JUN2   92.51    -0.05   91.60   92.88   21609

  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 = 3.13 ringgit)