17/11/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures slipped on Friday, despite posting a weekly gain of close to 5 percent, as traders booked profits from a large increase in the previous session, and slowing exports squeezed prices.

Futures posted on Wednesday their sharpest daily gain since October 2010, moving off a near 3-year low struck on Monday. Malaysian financial markets were closed on Tuesday and Thursday for the Hindu festival of Diwali and the Islamic New Year.

"The market came down a bit as there was some profit-taking," a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia said, adding that prices seemed to be trading in a broad range of 2,300 to 2,500 ringgit. "Exports were also down and that could be another reason."

The benchmark February contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 1.3 percent to close at 2,429 ringgit ($791) per tonne. For the week, prices posted a gain of 4.9 percent, snapping two straight weeks of losses.

Total traded volumes stood at 31,623 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.   

Palm oil faces a resistance at 2,447 ringgit per tonne, a break above which will lead to a further gain to 2,588 ringgit, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao said.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Nov. 1 to 15 fell 0.1 percent to 769,087 tonnes from 769,534 tonnes for the Oct. 1-15 period, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Friday.

That came as a disappointment after exports rose as much as 22 percent for the Nov. 1-10 period from a month ago, although some traders traced the slowdown to a slew of holidays this week.

Slowing exports may put pressure on Malaysia's record stocks, which hit 2.51 million tonnes in October, missing expectations for 2.67 million.

Market players are also closely monitoring a French proposal of a fourfold tax increase on palm oil in food, which stirred opposition from foodmakers and industry groups in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia.     

Brent futures hovered around $108 a barrel on Friday, as uncertainties surrounding the global economic outlook weighed on prices, and a showdown between Israel and the Palestinians stoked worries about supply.  

In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for December delivery fell 1 percent in late Asian trade. The most active May 2013 soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed down 1.6 percent.   

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1013 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      DEC2    2360   -35.00    2354    2372     866
  MY PALM OIL      JAN3    2396   -38.00    2384    2404    6610
  MY PALM OIL      FEB3    2429   -32.00    2416    2439   10683
  CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY3    6670  -114.00    6662    6784  595276
  CHINA SOYOIL     MAY3    8370  -136.00    8348    8466  986618
  CBOT SOY OIL     DEC2   47.10    -0.36   46.91   47.70   12856
  NYMEX CRUDE      DEC2   85.05    -0.40   85.03   85.72    2592

  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=3.07 ringgit)