Malaysia's crude palm oil futures rose in heavy volume on Thursday as players covered short positions, dealers said. The benchmark third-month January crude palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives settled up 8 ringgit at 1,435 ringgit ($380.6) a tonne after touching an intra day low of 1,419 ringgit.

"The market had a surprise move today. Everything was bearish, but the market closed up, basically on short covering," said a Malaysian dealer in Kuala Lumpur.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services (ITS) said exports of Malaysian oil palm products between November 1 and 10 were 262,909 tonnes, down 44 percent from the 473,089 tonnes shipped between October 1 and 10.

Another surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillace (SGS), the main independent tracker of Malaysian palm oil shipments, said exports of Malaysian oil palm products from November 1 to 10 were estimated to have fallen 39.8 percent to 285,482 tonnes from the 473,891 tonnes tracked for October 1-10.

Other traded months settled up 3 ringgit to 12 ringgit. Overall volume was heavy at 5,885 lots of 25 tonnes each. Dealers said they expected the market to move in a narrow range when it opened on Friday, with the immediate new resistance at 1,450 ringgit and support at 1,420 ringgit.

Copyright Reuters, 2005