KUALA LUMPUR, March 16: Malaysia palm oil futures closed largely unchanged in dull trade on Friday as the market awaited fresh leads, dealers said. The benchmark third-month June contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange finished down 9 ringgit at 1,947 Malaysian ringgit ($555) per ton.

The market went up initially on some short-covering, but it came down and volumes were very low. It is very directionless, said one dealer. The downward pressure seems to be from soyoil and crude oil. Other traded months fell between 1 and 5 ringgit.

Overall volume was 2,280 lots of 25 tons each, compared with around 12,000 lots that change hands om a routine day.

Soyabean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade slid on Thursday but kept within recent ranges amid a lack of news, traders said.

May soybeans closed 3 cents lower at $7.50- per bushel, keeping within this week's trading range -- holding above its 50-day moving average of $7.45- and this month's low of $7.39.

The soyaoil market settled between 0.11 cent higher and 0.10 cent lower, with May up 0.11 at 30.56 cents.

Palm oil often tracks the soybean market because both are used in products ranging from food and cosmetics to biodiesel.

It sometimes follows the crude oil market because of the growing use of vegetable oils in making biodiesel, which competes with petroleum diesel.

Poor export numbers announced by cargo surveyors on Thursday failed to drag down the market as traders felt it was a temporary situation.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for March 1-15 fell 8.9 per cent to 454,791 tons from 499,140 tons shipped between Feb. 1 and 15, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said.

Palm oil prices are set to jump more than 20 per cent by year-end as global oilseed stocks get depleted and demand from the food and fuel sectors surges, industry officials said at a price outlook conference in Kuala Lumpur which ended on Wednesday.

Malaysian palm oil, which gained almost 40 per cent last year, could move slightly downward in the near term, but surging Indian food demand and Europe's insatiable appetite for biofuels will ensure the commodity holds on to the gains this year.

In Malaysia's physical market, crude palm oil for March shipment in the southern region was quoted at 1,960/1,965 ringgit per ton in the southern region. Trades were done between 1,955 and 1,965 ringgit.—Reuters