VEGOILS-Palm oil futures rise on gains in rival oils, ringgit weakness

JAKARTA, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures opened higher on Wednesday, tracking rival edible oils in Dalian and Chicago, while weakness in the ringgit added support.

The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 10 ringgit, or 0.25%, to 4,000 ringgit ($988.14) a metric ton by 0231 GMT.

FUNDAMENTALS

Dalian's most-active soyoil contract DBYcv1 rose 0.38%, while its palm oil contract DCPcv1 was up 0.21%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade BOc2 gained 0.18%.

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

Malaysian ringgit, the contract currency of trade, eased 0.12% against the U.S. dollar, making palm oil cheaper for foreign currency holders.

Oil prices declined on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said Venezuela will be "turning over" 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the United States. O/R

Weaker crude oil prices made palm oil less attractive for biodiesel feedstock.

Palm oil FCPOc3 remains neutral in a range of 3,975 ringgit to 4,024 ringgit per metric ton, and an escape could suggest a direction, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.TECH/C

MARKET NEWS

Crude futures slid and resource shares climbed in Asian trading as markets absorbed the impact of political upheaval in Venezuela and the fate of its petroleum reserves. MKTS/GLOB

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0030 Japan S&P Global Comp Op Final SA Dec

0030 Japan S&P Global SVC PMI Final SA Dec

0855 Germany Unemployment Chg SA Dec

0855 Germany Unemployment rate SA Dec

0930 UK S&P GLOBAL PMI: MSC COMPOSITE - OUTPUT Dec

1000 EU HCIP Flash YY Dec

1000 EU HICP-X F,E,A&T Flash YY Dec

1000 EU HCIP-X F, E, A, T Flash MM Dec

1500 US Factory Orders MM Oct

1500 US ISM N-Mfg PMI Dec

($1 = 4.0480 ringgit)