KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 : Malaysian crude palm oil futures closed 1.7 per cent higher on Monday, boosted by rising soybean oil and fresh buying.But traders said gains were capped by June exports numbers.

The benchmark September contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange finished up 41 ringgit to 2,468 ringgit ($719) a ton after hitting a high of 2,490 ringgit.

Players are coming back into the palm oil market because of the big gains in soybean oil on Friday, said a trader.

This has sparked off fresh buying. Another said: However, the market has not gone so high as export numbers over the weekend were not very encouraging since it went below the psychological barrier of a million tons.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products in June fell 15.8 per cent to 991,620 tons from the 1,178,086 tons shipped in May, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Saturday.

Another surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, said exports during the month fell 15 per cent to 1,007,424 tons.

Other traded months rose between 15 and 50 ringgit in overall trade of 11,020 lots of 25 tons each.

But palm oil is nearly 11 per cent off a historic high of 2,764 ringgit reached last month as worries of a stock build-up due to weakening exports persist.

Sept palm oil on Singapore's Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange climbed 2.5 pc to $718.00 a ton with distant months moving higher in dull trade.

In Malaysia's physical market, crude palm oil for July shipment in the southern region was quoted at 2,600/2,610 ringgit a ton. Trades were done between 2,590 and 2,600.—Reuters