"The market is talking about exports of between 740,000 and 780,000 tonnes for February 1-20, and this was the reason behind the afternoon gains," said a trader.
Exports data for the period is due on Monday.
Exports were about 645,000 tonnes in the first 20 days of January.
Society Generale de Surveillance, a leading surveyor of Malaysian palm oil cargoes, had estimated exports for February 1 to 15 at 544,861 tonnes, up 12.6 percent from a month.
Soyaoil futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed higher on Thursday, supported by a rally in soyabean to a near two-month high on renewed worries that dry weather in parts of South America was cutting soyabean yields.
March soyaoil settled 0.26 cent up at 19.82 cents per lb, with the back months up 0.13 to 0.23 cent. Soyaoil and palm oil compete for similar export destinations and their prices often move in step.
In physical crude palm oil, the February contract saw bids at 1,340 ringgit a tonne and offers at 1,350 ringgit in Malaysia's southern and central regions. Bids/offers closed at 1,330/1,335 ringgit on Thursday.
Trades were reported at 1,325-1,340 ringgit in both regions.
PALM OIL FUTURES:
February (south): 1350
Open/High/Low: 1326/1343/1321
Previous closes: 1335
PALM OIL PHYSICALS:
May (third month): 1342
Previous settlement: 1325
FUTURES: Benchmark third-month May up 17 ringgit at 1,342 ringgit ($353.16) a tonne.
PHYSICALS: February offers up 15 ringgit a tonne.