* Palm oil expected to rise to 2,883 ringgit -technicals * Benchmark prices hit 2,860 ringgit peak; highest since Sept, 2012 By Michael Taylor JAKARTA, March 3 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rose to their highest in nearly one and a half years on Monday, boosted by climbs in comparative vegetable oils and by expectations dry weather will dent output in dominant Southeast Asian producers. The U.S. soyoil contract for May added 1 percent in early Asian trade, while the most active May soybean oil contract on the Dalian Commodities Exchange gained 1.5 percent. By the midday break, the benchmark May contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had climbed 1.3 percent to 2,836 ringgit ($870) per tonne. Prices earlier hit 2,860 ringgit, their highest since Sept. 20, 2012. "The first thing is the weather," a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage said. "It is a weather play .. in both Indonesia and Malaysia. "At the same time, we all saw what happened to soybean oils on Friday and Dalian followed." Concerns over dry weather tightening palm supplies have boosted palm prices in recent sessions, but bumper global oilseed supplies could dent the recent rally, analysts and traders said an industry conference in Kuala Lumpur on Monday. Market participants will be keeping watch for price outlooks from key industry speakers at the conference that runs from March 3-5. Technicals were bullish. Malaysian palm oil is expected to rise to 2,883 ringgit per tonne, as indicated by a Fibonacci retracement analysis, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. Total traded volume on Monday morning stood at 14,144 lots of 25 tonnes, slightly above the average 12,500 lots. India, the world's biggest importer of vegetable oils, will boost imports of soybean oil at the cost of palm in the year to October 2014 as the spread between the two competing products has narrowed, traders said. In other markets, Brent and U.S. crude oil rallied more than $2 per barrel to multi-month highs, lifted by rising tension in Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared he had the right to invade his neighbour. Higher crude oil prices would increase demand for palm oil as an alternative feedstock to produce biofuels. Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0617 GMT Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume MY PALM OIL MAR4 0 +0.00 0 0 200 MY PALM OIL APR4 2842 +37.00 2829 2861 720 MY PALM OIL MAY4 2836 +36.00 2825 2860 8399 CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY4 6164 +82.00 6146 6194 120652 CHINA SOYOIL MAY4 6848 +100.00 6824 6874 103280 CBOT SOY OIL MAY4 42.22 +0.42 41.87 42.30 5703 NYMEX CRUDE APR4 103.82 +1.23 102.95 104.65 23066 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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