KUALA LUMPUR, July 30: Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose more than 2 per cent on Monday, tracking an increase in rival soybean oil prices and supported by a weakening ringgit currency.

Traders said palm oil prices were also helped by steady crude oil, which remained well above $75 a barrel.

The benchmark October contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange finished 53 ringgit, or 2.1 per cent, to 2,636 ringgit ($762) per ton.

Palm oil is getting all the help from soyabean oil gains on Chicago Board of Trade and from the ringgit falling even further today, said a leading trader.

Crude oil may have gone lower but it is still above $75 a barrel, which has brought the palm biofuel story back to life all over again. Other traded months rose between 43 and 80 ringgit.

Overall traded volume shot up to 27,119 lots of 25 tons each from 10,000 lots that are usually change on a routine day.

Exports of palm oil have begun to rise after slow sales in June, as buyers across Asia lock in supplies for festivals such as the Chinese mid-Autumn festival and the Muslim holy month of Ramazan, both due in September.

Palm oil is less than 5 per cent off an historic high of 2,764 ringgit reached in early June on robust demand from top importers India and China and dwindling supplies at home.

October palm oil on Singapore's Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange up $33.50 at $780 a ton by 1030 GMT.

In the physical market, crude palm oil for August shipment in Malaysia's southern region was quoted at 2,725/2,730 ringgit a ton.—Reuters