* Palm oil falls 21 pct this year, hits lowest since Aug. 11 * Focus on U.S. Fed chairman Bernanke's Friday speech * Malaysia, Indonesia markets close for Eid next week By Angie Teo KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures hit over two-week lows on Friday, tracking a weaker overseas soy complex and crude oil amid grim global economic news as traders awaited a key speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Palm oil has lost more than 21 percent so far this year due to high stocks and volatile financial markets. "Investors tend to be cautious ahead of Ben Bernanke's speech, but the debt crisis in the U.S. will not end overnight," said a trader in Kuala Lumpur. "Unless there are strong fundamentals to support the palm oil market, nothing will change for now as investors are liquidating positions ahead of the long holiday." By midday, the benchmark November crude palm oil contract KPOc3 fell 0.8 percent to 2,969 ringgit ($993.475) a tonne after going as low as 2,963 ringgit -- a level unseen since Aug. 11. Overall traded volume was 7,384 lots of 25 tonnes each, below the usual 12,500 lots as traders booked positions ahead of a holiday next week. Malaysia's financial markets will be closed from the afternoon of Aug. 29 to mark the Muslim festival of Eid, while Indonesian markets will close for the week. Markets are eyeing Bernanke's speech on Friday after 1400 GMT in hopes that he will make some comments about bolstering the world's largest economy, even though the Fed's options are limited. Any failure to offer a clear hint of further monetary easing may trigger a fresh sell-off. Crude oil inched down in Asian trade hours, dragging down other vegetable oils. U.S. soyoil for September delivery BOc1 fell 0.3 percent on Friday, but losses were capped by drier weather in the U.S. midwest, which expected to stress pod-setting soybean crops. The most active May 2012 soyoil in China's Dalian Commodity edged lower. Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0549 GMT Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume M'ASIA PALM OIL SEP1 3075 -33.00 3075 3085 65 M'ASIA PALM OIL OCT1 3005 -25.00 3001 3031 371 M'ASIA PALM OIL NOV1 2969 -25.00 2963 2996 3532 M'ASIA PALM OIL DEC1 2957 -23.00 2952 2975 1586 DALIAN SOY OIL MAY2 10106 -32.00 10088 10170 285222 CBOT SOY OIL DEC1 56.02 -0.11 55.93 56.28 527 NYMEX CRUDE OCT1 85.02 -0.28 84.83 85.33 4707 Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound Dalian soy oil in Chinese yuan per tonne Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel ($1 = 2.988 ringgit)

Source