KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24: Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose 0.6 per cent on Wednesday as oil headed above $108 a barrel, lending support to some global vegetable oil markets but lingering anxieties of cooling demand cut into gains.

Malaysian benchmark prices of the tropical oil have fallen more than 25 per cent so far this year, dragged down by bumper harvests, defaults by Asian consumers and rival Indonesia cutting down export taxes at a time of financial market turmoil.

Its a game in the market. Buy and sell on the ebbs and flows of crude oil but there is a sense that export data on Thursday will not be very ideal, said a trader with a local commodities broker.

The most-active December contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 13 ringgit at 2,318 ringgit ($678) a ton after going as high as 2,357 ringgit.

Other traded months ranged between a rise of 43 ringgit to 30 ringgit declines while Feb. 2009 and Jan. 2010 contracts were unchanged.Overall trade slipped to 8,458 lots of 25 tons each from the usual 10,000 lots.

Indonesian palm oil prices weakened on Wednesday as many producers wrapped up deals ahead the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday next week.

The state marketing centre in Jakarta sold crude palm oil at at 5,993 rupiah ($0.642) a kg, down 6,136 rupiah on Tuesday, following losses in Malaysia during afternoon trading.

Producers in Medan, North Sumatra -- home to Belawan port, Indonesia’s key port for palm oil exports--did not hold any palm oil auction on Wednesday.

Most producers have sold out their oils in Tuesday’s auction. Activity is slowing now as players wrap up deals before holiday, said a dealer in Medan.

In Jakarta, refineries offered refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palm olein, which is used in cooking oil, at 6,650 rupiah a kg, down from 6,750 rupiah a kg on Tuesday.

In Malaysia’s physical market, crude palm oil for September shipment in the southern region was 2,330/2,340 ringgit. Trades were done between 2,300 and 2,350 ringgit.—Reuters