* Weaker ringgit makes feedstock cheaper for overseas buyer * Palm oil to drop to 2,430 ringgit -technicals * Traded volumes thin at 5,612 lots * USDA soybeans estimate neutral to palm oil -analyst (Updates prices, adds details) By Chew Yee Kiat KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures were almost flat on Thursday, as investors remained cautious ahead of upcoming export figures that could give more pointers to demand trends in the first half of the month. But a weaker ringgit currency, which makes the feedstock cheaper for overseas buyers and refiners, who are restocking ahead of the Muslim festival of Ramadan, provided support for the market. The ringgit has lost 1.7 percent versus the dollar this week. Also helping to trim losses were palm oil stocks in Malaysia, the world's No.2 producer of the edible oil, that fell to their lowest in nearly a year, at 1.82 million tonnes by the end of May. "Prices are still trading within a range, but weakness in the ringgit should cap the downside. There is also talk about demand picking up ahead of Ramadan," said a dealer with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. The fasting month falls in July this year. By the midday break, the benchmark August contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was almost unchanged at 2,452 ringgit ($780) per tonne. Prices traded in a tight range between 2,443 and 2,460 ringgit. Total traded volumes stood at 5,612 lots of 25 tonnes each, well below the usual 12,500 lots, as traders waited for the June 1-15 exports data by cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services due on Saturday. Technicals showed a bearish target at 2,430 ringgit per tonne remained intact for palm oil, despite its reluctance to drop, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report pegged its global soybean stockpile estimate for the 2013/2014 season at 265 million bushels, within a consensus estimate of 268 million. "We believe the news is neutral to crude palm oil prices as the USDA estimate for soybean oil inventory does not change significantly," Malaysia's Kenanga Investment Bank analyst Alan Lim Seong Chun said in a note to clients on Thursday. In other markets, Brent futures slipped towards $103 a barrel as a jump in gasoline stocks in the United States stoked worries about demand, with the summer driving season already underway, but a weak dollar helped stem the slide. In vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for July was almost flat in early Asian trade. The most-active September soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange edged up 0.1 percent after a three-day holiday. Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0458 GMT Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume MY PALM OIL JUN3 0 +0.00 0 0 0 MY PALM OIL JUL3 2452 +3.00 2448 2455 80 MY PALM OIL AUG3 2452 +1.00 2443 2460 3659 CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP3 6292 -2.00 6250 6348 359630 CHINA SOYOIL SEP3 7444 +6.00 7420 7486 243092 CBOT SOY OIL JUL3 48.10 -0.01 47.85 48.15 3937 NYMEX CRUDE JUL3 95.33 -0.55 95.31 95.86 5461 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 ($1=3.144 ringgit)

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