VEGOILS-Palm opens lower on weak rival edible oils, crude oil prices

KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures opened lower on Thursday, snapping two straight sessions of gains, as weak rival edible oils and crude oil prices weighed on the market.

The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for October delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 43 ringgit, or 1.01%, to 4,235 ringgit ($996.47) a metric ton in early trade.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Dalian's most-active soyoil contract DBYcv1 fell 0.58%, while its palm oil contract DCPcv1 lost 1.03%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade BOcv1 were down 0.68%.

* Palm oil tracks price movements of rival edible oils, as it competes for a share of the global vegetable oils market.

* At 0300 GMT, the benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 was down 0.19% at $73.1 per barrel. Weaker crude oil futures make palm a less attractive option for biodiesel feedstock.

* The ringgit MYR=, palm's currency of trade, weakened 0.35% against the dollar, making the commodity cheaper for buyers holding foreign currencies.

* Malaysian palm oil exports to the United States during January-May rose 51.8% from a year earlier to 93,000 metric tons, the Plantation and Commodities Ministry said.

MARKET NEWS

* Asian equities slipped on Thursday on weaker-than-expected Chinese activity data and a plunge in copper prices, while investors weighed a trade deal between South Korea and the U.S. MKTS/GLOB

DATA/EVENTS

0645 France CPI (EU Norm) Prelim MM, YY July

0645 France CPI Prelim MM, YY NSA July

0645 France Producer Prices YY June

0755 Germany Unemployment Chg, Rate SA July

0900 EU Unemployment Rate June

1200 Germany CPI, HICP Prelim YY July

1230 US Consumption, Adjusted MM June

1230 US Core CPE Price Index MM, YY June

1230 US PCE Price Index MM, YY June

1230 US Initial Jobless Clm 26 Jul, w/e

($1 = 4.2500 ringgit)

For a table on Malaysian physical palm oil prices, including refined oil, Reuters Terminal users can double click on or type OILS/MY01. * To view freight rates from Peninsula Malaysia/Sumatra to China, India, Pakistan and Rotterdam, please key in OILS/ASIA2 and press enter, or double click between the brackets.  * Reuters Terminal users can see cash and futures edible oil prices by double clicking on the codes in the brackets: To go to the next page in the same chain, hit F12. To go back, hit F11. Vegetable oils                       OILS/ASIA1 Malaysian palm oil exports           SGSPALM1   CBOT soyoil futures                  0#BO:      CBOT soybean futures                 0#S:       Indian solvent                       SOLVENT01  Dalian Commodity Exchange            DC/MENU   Dalian soyoil futures                0#DBY:   Dalian refined palm oil futures      0#DCP:   Zhengzhou rapeseed oil               0#COI:   European edible oil prices/trades    OILS/E