* Malaysian ringgit slides to 3.7170 per dollar

* Palm oil to test resistance at 2,253 ringgit -technicals

KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 - Malaysian palm oil

futures snapped a five-day losing streak on Wednesday as the

ringgit slid to its weakest in six years, although gains were

capped by palm's narrowing discount to rival soyoil.

The Malaysian ringgit touched a low of 3.7170 per

dollar on Wednesday as Asian markets skidded on worries about an

U.S. interest rates hike sooner than expected, sending the

dollar to a 12-year high against the euro.

By the end of the day the ringgit had recovered slightly,

rising 0.08 percent to 3.6970 per dollar.

A weaker Malaysian currency makes the ringgit-priced

feedstock cheaper for foreign investors.

Despite the weak currency, traders said some buyers were

reluctant to book palm because its once wide discount to soyoil

has been largely shaved off.

"With the weak ringgit, it should encourage more exports,"

said one trader with a foreign commodities brokerage in Kuala

Lumpur.

"But it's not showing up on the export data yet. The reason

is that the spread between palm and soy has narrowed, and people

are trying to buy more soy than palm," the trader added.

Palm olein's (POL-MYRBD-M1) discount to Argentina soyoil

(BO-ARGUPR-P1) is currently about $32, versus $27 earlier in

March and $128 at the start of 2015.

By Wednesday's close, the benchmark May contract

on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange had edged up 1.74

percent to 2,276 ringgit ($616) a tonne, rising for the first

time after a downtrend over the past five days.

Total traded volume stood at 42,575 lots of 25 tonnes, above

the average 35,000 lots.

Export data from cargo surveyors on Tuesday showed that

Malaysian palm oil shipments in the first ten day of March was

between 12 and 19 percent weaker from the same period in

February, with between 247,698 tonnes and 262,168 tonnes

exported.

Industry regulator data meanwhile showed that Malaysian palm

inventories at end-February shrank to their smallest in

seven-months. Exports for the month, however, were at their

weakest in nearly eight years.

In vegetable oil markets, the most active May soybean oil

contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.55

percent, while the U.S. soyoil contract for March rose

0.26 percent.

Elsewhere, Brazilian government crop supply agency Conab

trimmed its forecast for the 2014/15 soybean harvest to 93.3

million tonnes from its February outlook of 94.6 million tonnes.

The estimates are still seen at a record, well above last year's

86.1 million tonnes.

In other markets, Brent crude oil slipped to a one-month low

below $56 a barrel before steadying as a rally in the U.S.

dollar and global oversupply weighed.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 1030 GMT

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL MAR5 2277 +37.00 2249 2277 8

MY PALM OIL APR5 2281 +49.00 2236 2281 2991

MY PALM OIL MAY5 2276 +39.00 2237 2280 24259

CHINA PALM OLEIN SEP5 4742 -22.00 4706 4752 396420

CHINA SOYOIL SEP5 5468 -24.00 5436 5488 366742

CBOT SOY OIL MAY5 31.24 +4.90 30.82 31.30 9139

INDIA PALM OIL MAR5 448.80 +4.90 444.70 449.70 911

INDIA SOYOIL APR5 578.15 +2.25 574.30 579.40 16865

NYMEX CRUDE APR5 48.36 +0.07 48.30 49.05 25137

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

India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg

Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel

($1 = 3.6970 ringgit)

($1 = 6.2613 Chinese yuan renminbi)

($1 = 62.7525 Indian rupees)