SINGAPORE, June 7: Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Thursday, tracking lower crude oil as investors turned cautious on prospects of the United States introducing fresh monetary stimulus and European policymakers rescuing Spanish banks.

Palm oil has been recovering on bargain hunting after plunging to its 2012 low on Monday. But the market returned to the red on Thursday as most investors were still waiting for further cues before jumping in.

“The market is playing a waiting game,” said a dealer with a foreign commodities brokerage in Malaysia. “Traders are awaiting Bernanke’s talk tonight and also Dorab's talk later in the day,” he added, referring to top oils analyst Dorab Mistry, who is set to speak at a palm oil trade fair in India.

Benchmark August palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 1 per cent to close at 2,974 ringgit ($941) per ton. Prices touched a low of 2,925 ringgit on Monday, their lowest since Nov 2, 2011. Traded volumes stood at 34,801 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots. On the technicals front, Reuters market analyst Wang Tao took a bullish view, saying palm oil would rebound further to 3,091 ringgit per ton. Malaysian fundamentals remained supportive on firm demand for the tropical oil as Muslims prepare to observe a month of fasting starting in mid-July. Cargo surveyors will release export data on Monday for the first 10 days of June.—Reuters