12/06/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil rose on Monday on a bigger-than-expected stock draw although gains were curbed by concerns the euro zone debt crisis was far from resolved even after the bloc agreed on a rescue package for Spain's struggling banks.

The $125-billion bailout calmed some of the fears seen last week that triggered a global sell-off in the financial markets and dragged palm oil to its lowest in the year.

But investors are now focusing to Greek national polls on June 17 that could put Athens on a path out of the bloc and trigger a deeper crisis over the future of the currency bloc.

For now, Malaysian palm oil stocks at a 13-month low in May have been holding up the market although some traders said the 4.5 percent drop from a month ago was already priced in.

Traders are also eyeing a supply-demand report on U.S. and global grains from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) due Tuesday that could show tighter supply and lend support to palm oil.

"There was a sense that the Malaysian stocks numbers are bullish but the euro zone debt crisis clouds over everything," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.

Benchmark August palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 0.5 percent to close at 2,989 ringgit ($944) per tonne after going as high as 3,028 ringgit.

Traded volumes stood at 32,538 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

On the technicals front, palm oil faces resistance at 3,038 ringgit per tonne, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.

Malaysian palm oil exports for the first 10 days of June fell 6.6 percent, said cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services, going against traders' expectations of a stronger demand ahead of the Muslim fasting month starting in mid-July.

"This is quite a surprise. But we still expect real demand to come in the later part in June," said a dealer based in Malaysia.

Another cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance reported a slight 1.8 percent increase for exports in the same period.

Brent crude oil rose above $100 on Monday after a weekend rescue package for Spanish banks calmed fears of an imminent euro zone collapse and a breakdown in nuclear talks between the UN and Iran renewed concerns over oil supplies.

In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for July delivery gained 1.3 percent in Asian trade. The most active Jan 2013 soyoil contract on the Dalian commodity exchange closed 1.8 percent higher.     

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1003 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      JUN2       0    +0.00       0       0       0
  MY PALM OIL      JUL2    2989   +16.00    2983    3020    1128
  MY PALM OIL      AUG2    2989   +16.00    2983    3028   19055
  CHINA PALM OLEIN JAN3    7928  +164.00    7808    7934  248548
  CHINA SOYOIL     JAN3    9362  +164.00    9238    9364  494598
  CBOT SOY OIL     JUL2   50.13    +0.67   48.88   50.38    9801
  NYMEX CRUDE      JUL2   84.93    +0.83   84.82   86.64   33797

  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=3.161 Malaysian ringgit)