Vegoils: Palm oil edges higher, tracking gains in U.S. soyoil

By Emily Chow

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures edged higher on Friday after four sessions of declines, as it tracked gains in U.S. soyoil on the Chicago Board of Trade.

The market, however, is seen to be range-trading pending further leads, said a Kuala Lumpur-based trader.

The benchmark palm oil contract for June delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slightly was up 0.1 percent at 2,425 ringgit ($625.32) a tonne at the midday break.

Palm is down 3.2 percent for the week, poised for its sharpest weekly decline in five weeks.

Trading volumes stood at 14,551 lots of 25 tonnes each at the midday break.

"Palm prices may attempt to rebound after recent losses, but a recovery in rival oilseed may lend support and cushion the selling interest," said another trader.

Palm oil prices are affected by movements in rival edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

The Chicago Board of Trade's May soybean oil contract gained 0.2 percent, after dropping as much as 1 percent earlier this week.

In other related oils, the May soybean oil on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange slipped as much as 1 percent, while the Dalian May palm oil contract edged down up to 0.6 percent.

Palm oil may test a resistance at 2,433 ringgit, as it seems to have stabilized around a support at 2,401 ringgit per tonne, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals.

(Reporting by Emily Chow; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)