08/11/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures gained on Wednesday, snapping three days of losses, with investors buying after prices dropped to a one-month low earlier in the session and on concerns year-end floods in the country could hurt production.

"I heard there are worries about floods in the Johor area, and we have also seen some technical buying," said a Singapore-based trader with a global commodities house, referring to the state that accounts for almost 15 percent of Malaysia's total palm production.

The benchmark January contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 1.1 percent to close at 2,397 ringgit ($786) per tonne. Prices earlier fell to their weakest since Oct. 8 at 2,364 ringgit.

Total traded volumes stood at 43,064 lots of 25 tonnes each, much higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

Technicals showed palm oil could rebound to 2,423 ringgit, as support held firm at 2,377 ringgit, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said.

Malaysia's palm oil exports rose 10 percent to a 2012-high at 1.6 million tonnes in October, and the steep discount between palm oil and soybean oil could uncover more demand and help ease swelling stocks.

Stock levels in Malaysia, the world's No.2 palm oil producer, were projected to reach a record 2.67 million tonnes in October, a Reuters survey showed on Tuesday.

Traders are now waiting for Malaysian exports data for Nov. 1-10 from cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services scheduled to be released on Saturday and October stocks data from industry regulator the Malaysian Palm Oil Board on Monday.     

In related markets, Brent futures retreated on Wednesday as investors turned their focus to problems facing the U.S. economy after the re-election of President Barack Obama.

In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for December delivery inched up 0.3 percent in late Asian trade. The most active May 2013 soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was almost flat.

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1003 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      NOV2    2301   +21.00    2300    2310     119
  MY PALM OIL      DEC2    2330    +5.00    2312    2368    1724
  MY PALM OIL      JAN3    2397   +25.00    2364    2420   21266
  CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY3    6856   +20.00    6762    6882  535064
  CHINA SOYOIL     MAY3    8764    -2.00    8670    8802  728534
  CBOT SOY OIL     DEC2   48.80    +0.12   48.44   49.06   11261
  NYMEX CRUDE      DEC2   88.25    -0.46   87.87   88.80   34547
                                                                     
  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)