KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures closed lower on Monday partly in response to a fall in monthly export figures.

Benchmark palm oil futures for January on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange were down 0.86 percent at 2,764 ringgit ($659.67) a tonne. Traded volume stood at 30,060 lots of 25 tonnes each.

A Kuala Lumpur-based trader said the futures contract fell due to the lower export figures as there was no real lead from the global vegoil markets.

"Market is tracking the numbers released, which were within trade expectation. There is some profit-taking as well, as market goes through some correction from the recent highs," he said.

The contract has seen three consecutive weekly gains up until last week.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for October 1-31 fell 6.4 percent to 1,288,894 tonnes from 1,377,757 tonnes during the Sept. 1-30 period, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Monday.

Another trader said trading was range bound as a weaker ringgit softened the impact of poorer export data.

"The first 20 days export figures had shown declining numbers, so October's exports were expected to be lower than the month before. Also, the weakness in ringgit had helped cushion any sell off," he said.

External markets such as the Dalian Commodity Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade impact the direction of palm oil futures as the oils compete for a share in the global edible oils market.

On the Dalian exchange, the January soyabean oil contract was down up to 0.86 percent while the January contract for palm olein slid as much as 0.67 percent.

The Chicago Board of Trade's December soyabean oil contract fell up to 0.7 percent.

Palm oil is biased to retest a resistance at 2,822 ringgit per tonne, a break above which could lead to a gain to the next resistance at 2,852 ringgit, Reuters commodities and energy markets technical analyst Wang Tao said.

Support is at 2,753 ringgit, a break below which could cause a loss to 2,729 ringgit, he added.-Reuters