29/12/2012 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures touched a near two-month high on Friday, posting a second straight weekly gain as traders expect record stocks in the world's No.2 producer to ease on lower production and higher shipments.

Exports rose slightly for the first 25 days of December from the same period a month ago, thanks to larger purchases from India and the United States, cargo surveyor data showed.

On top of that, heavy rains that could bring floods to key oil palm producing regions in the Southeast Asian country sparked concerns of supply disruptions, raising hopes that inventory levels could fall in December.    

"The current growing concern is the monsoon that is hitting hard on the east coast and southern part of Malaysia. This theme is likely to play out at least until the second week of January," said Ker Chung Yang, commodities analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore.

"On the macroeconomic front, it seems like the current push towards the 2,500-ringgit level has brushed aside concerns of a fiscal cliff," he added.

U.S. President Barack Obama and lawmakers are launching a last round of talks to reach a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff before a New Year's deadline, failing which the world's largest economy may slip back into recession and hurt global commodity demand.  

The benchmark March contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 0.5 percent to close at 2,494 ringgit ($815) per tonne, off an earlier high of 2,515 ringgit per tonne, a level last seen on Nov. 2.

Total traded volumes stood at 31,099 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

For the week, palm oil prices climbed 3.6 percent, extending last week's gain that came after four straight weekly losses.

Traders are hoping that a lower export tax for crude palm oil starting January could spur more demand. Malaysian cargoes are likely to be cheaper than rival Indonesia's with the former setting its January export tax rate at zero compared to the latter's 7.5 percent.    

Brent crude edged down slightly on Friday after earlier climbing above $111 per barrel.

In competing vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for March delivery rose 0.9 percent in late Asian trade. The most active May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange ended 0.7 percent higher.

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1007 GMT

  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  MY PALM OIL      JAN3    2375   +25.00    2331    2382     255
  MY PALM OIL      FEB3    2453   +22.00    2421    2468    2331
  MY PALM OIL      MAR3    2494   +13.00    2467    2515   14116
  CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY3    6964   +22.00    6932    7026  749854
  CHINA SOYOIL     MAY3    8642   +60.00    8610    8674  507182
  CBOT SOY OIL     MAR3   49.17    +0.44   48.73   49.36    6184
  NYMEX CRUDE      FEB3   90.97    +0.10   90.91   91.49   11362

  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=3.06 ringgit)