22/09/2011 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil barely moved on Wednesday as investors grew wary over attempts to resolve Europe's debt crisis and shore up the U.S. economy against a slide back into recession -- factors that can stall global commodity demand.  
   
Palm oil prices have been see-sawing in September, torn between the bleak global economic outlook and prospects of strong demand ahead of key public holidays in top buyers India and China next month. 
   
"When palm oil goes below 3,000 ringgit, there is no follow-through selling. When it goes above 3,000 ringgit there is no follow-through buying. The keyword is caution," said a trader with a foreign brokerage in Malaysia. 
    
Benchmark December palm oil FCPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange shed 1 ringgit to end at 3,066 ringgit ($982.85) per tonne. 
   
Overall volumes were light, with 21,933 lots of 25 tonnes each changing hands, compared to the usual 25,000 lots. 
   
Reuters analyst Wang Tao forecast prices would be technically neutral as long as palm oil remains in a range of 3,000-3,083 ringgit per tonne.  
   
Palm oil has lost almost 20 percent so far this year on high stocks and a slowdown in demand after the Muslim Eid festival in late August. 
   
But last minute orders are likely to pour in ahead of India's Diwali festival in late October and China's Golden Week holiday early next month.  
   
Exports are starting to show a recovery trend. Malaysia's Sept. 1-20 palm oil exports fell 16.4 percent to 978,087 tonnes from 1,170,226 tonnes shipped during Aug. 1-20, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Tuesday. 
   
That is in comparison to exports in the first ten days of September dropping 36.4 percent to 377,038 tonnes from the same period a month ago.  
   
Brent crude futures pushed slightly higher on Wednesday but moves were muted as investors awaited a U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting in which the bank is expected to announce further steps to stimulate the economy.  
   
U.S. soyoil for October delivery rose 0.3 percent during Asian hours as concerns of drought in the U.S. Plains spurred some buying. The most active May 2012 soybean oil contract on China's Dalian Exchange fell. 
     

  Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1101 GMT
                                                                 
  Contract        Month    Last   Change     Low    High  Volume
  M'ASIA PALM OIL  OCT1    3080    -7.00    3061    3082     727
  M'ASIA PALM OIL  NOV1    3066    -7.00    3050    3071    4853
  M'ASIA PALM OIL  DEC1    3066    -1.00    3043    3070   10688
  M'ASIA PALM OIL  JAN2    3070    +2.00    3044    3071    3723
  DALIAN SOY OIL   MAY2   10094   -14.00   10020   10124  414308
  CBOT SOY OIL     DEC1   55.85    +0.22   55.47   55.92    6154
  NYMEX CRUDE      NOV1   86.41    -0.51   86.22   86.99   18987
                                                                 
  Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne
  CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound
  Dalian soy oil in Chinese yuan per tonne
  Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel
  ($1 = 3.119 Malaysian Ringgit)