KUALA LUMPUR, June 29: Malaysian crude palm oil futures ended 1.8 per cent higher in light trade on Friday due to surging soyoil prices, while market participants awaited June export numbers.

The benchmark September contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 44 ringgit at 2,427 ringgit ($704) a ton.

Soyaaabean oil has been stabilising at higher prices and this bodes well for palm oil, said a trader.

There is some short covering ahead of the weekend because players are slowly realising that export data for this month is not that bad. Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services will release June's export numbers on Saturday, while Societe Generale de Surveillance will release its data on Monday.

Other traded months rose between 33 and 56 ringgit. Overall trade fell to 7,292 lots of 25 tons each from around 12,000 lots that usually change hands on a routine day.

But palm oil is more than 12 per cent off a historic high of 2,764 ringgit reached earlier this month as worries of a stock build-up due to weakening exports persist.

September palm oil on Singapore's Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange rose 1.6 per cent to $700.25 a ton with distant months also posting gains in thin trade.

In electronic trading during Asian hours, the July contract jumped 1.91 per cent to 36.25 cents a lb by 1047 GMT.

In Malaysia's physical market, crude palm oil for June and July shipments in the southern region was quoted at 2,530/2,540 ringgit a ton. Trades were done between 2,520 and 2,530 ringgit.—Reuters