* Palm oil breaks the 2445-2450 ringgit resistance level -analyst * Palm oil to rise to 2,486 ringgit -technicals (Updates prices, adds details) By Anuradha Raghu KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rose to their highest in more than two weeks on Tuesday, tracking gains in competing soyoil as dry weather in key South American soy-producing regions sparked concerns about edible oil supply as global demand recovers. Dryness in parts of Argentina and Brazil could hurt South America's soybean yields and turn buyers towards palm oil, which is currently trading at a discount of more than $300 a tonne. Malaysian palm oil exports fell 19 percent in the first twenty days of January, improving fractionally from a steeper drop earlier in the month and raising hopes that demand would pick up and cut record high stockpiles in the world's No.2 producer. "Exports are improving slightly -- it's still not so good, but it should be improving," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala Lumpur. "The market has broken the resistance level of 2,445-2,450 ringgit of the third month benchmark. Technically the market looks more supportive," he added. The benchmark April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose to 2,474 ringgit ($812) per tonne, the highest level since Jan. 7, before closing at 2,466 ringgit, a gain of almost 2 percent from the previous session. Total traded volume stood at 35,955 lots of 25 tonnes each, slightly higher than the usual 25,000 lots. Technical analysis shows palm oil is expected to rise towards 2,486 ringgit per tonne, as it has cleared resistance at 2,449 ringgit, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. Brent crude rose above $112 a barrel on Tuesday, after Japan pledged to pump in more money to boost its economy, adding to positive growth signals from the United States and China in the past few weeks. In competing vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for March delivery rose 1.5 percent to a near 3-month high on late Tuesday, underpinned by dry weather that sparked concerns about South America's soybean crop, which is forecast to hit to record highs this year. The most active May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange had gained 0.2 percent in late Asian trade, the highest level seen since Nov. 2. Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1014 GMT Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume MY PALM OIL FEB3 2414 +44.00 2390 2415 238 MY PALM OIL MAR3 2441 +40.00 2412 2451 4815 MY PALM OIL APR3 2466 +46.00 2430 2474 16312 CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY3 6818 +70.00 6746 6820 293718 CHINA SOYOIL SEP3 8848 +20.00 8820 8886 410644 CBOT SOY OIL MAR3 52.46 +0.78 51.94 52.55 9495 NYMEX CRUDE FEB3 95.41 -0.15 94.98 95.72 8494 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

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