* Greece lawmakers pass unpopular austerity bill * Palm oil to rise to 3,190-3,196 ringgit - technicals * Traded volumes thin at 8,104 tonnes (Updates prices, adds details) By Chew Yee Kiat SINGAPORE, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures gained on Monday after Greece passed an unpopular austerity bill, inching closer to securing a bailout deal that could help avoid a messy default. The Greek parliament approved on Monday the deeply unpopular austerity bill, injecting some much-needed optimism into the market and helping to lift the palm oil market that has lost 0.6 percent so far this year. But market players were also concerned about prospects of slowing demand for palm oil especially as the tropical oil enters a period of recovering production. "Traders are watchful of the weakness in the cash crude palm oil prices that could morph into a broader relapse given the fact that we are approching higher production month," said a trader with a local commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. "Demand remains anaemic and cash prices are waning," added the trader. By the midday break, benchmark April palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 0.5 percent to 3,156 ringgit ($1,044) per tonne. Traded volumes were thin at 8,104 lots of 25 tonnes each, compared to the usual 12,500 lots. Reuters market analyst Wang Tao posted a bullish view, saying palm oil is poised to break a resistance at 3,165 ringgit per tonnes and rise further into a range of 3,190-3,196 ringgit. On the demand side, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said Malaysian palm oil exports from Feb. 1 to 10 fell 7.7 percent to 342,982 tonnes from a month ago while another cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance reported a smaller decline of 4.3 percent to 337,618 tonnes. Some traders attributed the decline in exports to the shift in orders to top producer Indonesia which is selling at a discount due to its tax structure. But the market expects crude palm oil exports to pick up in coming week after Malaysia issued its tax-free export quotas of 3 million tonnes. Brent crude rose above $118 on Monday, supported by a weaker dollar and expectations of a revival in demand growth after Greek lawmakers approved an austerity bill to secure a second bailout. Other vegetable oil markets were also lifted by the Greek news as the U.S. soyoil contract for March delivery gained 0.7 percent in Asian trade. The most active September 2012 soyoil contract on China's Dalian Commodity exchange edged up 1.1 percent. Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0447 GMT Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume MY PALM OIL FEB2 3100 +7.00 3100 3100 41 MY PALM OIL MAR2 3150 +9.00 3148 3165 557 MY PALM OIL APR2 3156 +25.00 3152 3171 4724 CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP2 8280 +86.00 8210 8290 98726 CHINA SOYOIL SEP2 9332 +104.00 9254 9342 307088 CBOT SOY OIL MAR2 52.92 +0.38 52.65 52.97 2989 NYMEX CRUDE MAR2 99.62 +0.94 99.09 99.64 6371 Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel * Bursa Malaysia holds its annual Palm and Lauric Oils Conference & Exhibition Price Outlook 2012 from March 5 to 7 in Kuala Lumpur. For details, see www.pocmalaysia.com ($1=3.0240 ringgit)

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