KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 18 (Reuters) -Malaysian palm oil futures fell on Wednesday for a fourth consecutive session, as the market tracked rival edible oils lower.

The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for March delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange slid 70 ringgit, or 1.48%, to 4,655 ringgit ($1,041.39) a metric ton in early trade.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Dalian's most-active soyoil contract DBYcv1 fell 2.61%, while its palm oil contract DCPcv1 shed 1.11%. Soyoil prices on the Chicago Board of Trade BOcv1 were down 0.94%.

* Palm oil tracks price movements of rival edible oils, as they compete for a share in the global vegetable oils market.

* The ringgit MYR=, palm's currency of trade, weakened 0.11% against the dollar, making the commodity cheaper for buyers holding foreign currencies.

* Malaysia maintained its January export tax for crude palm oil at 10% and raised its reference price to 5,001.72 ringgit per metric ton, a circular on the Malaysian Palm Oil Board website showed.

* Palm oil prices are expected to remain above 4,800 ringgit in December, supported by the recovery of soybean oil prices, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council said.

* European Union soybean imports in the 2024/25 season that started in July had reached 6.27 million metric tons by Dec. 15, up 16% from a year earlier, while palm oil imports were at 1.42 million tons, down 16%, data published by the European Commission showed.

* The European Parliament gave its final approval to a one-year delay of Europe's landmark deforestation law, which will begin from December 2025.

* Oil prices traded in a narrow range as investors remained cautious ahead of an expected rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve. O/R

* Palm oil may test support at 4,624 ringgit per metric ton, with a good chance of breaking below this level and falling towards 4,527 ringgit, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. TECH/C

MARKET NEWS

* U.S. stocks closed down on Tuesday and crude prices fell as investors parsed economic data and girded themselves for a series of central bank decisions, including an expected rate cut from the Federal Reserve. MKTS/GLOB

DATA/EVENTS

0700 UK Core CPI YY, CPI YY, CPI Services MM, CPI Services YY Nov

1000 EU HICP Final MM, HICP Final YY Nov

1330 US Housing Starts Number Nov

($1 = 4.4700 ringgit)

Reporting by Ashley Tang; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu

For a table on Malaysian physical palm oil prices, including refined oil, Reuters Terminal users can double click on or type OILS/MY01. * To view freight rates from Peninsula Malaysia/Sumatra to China, India, Pakistan and Rotterdam, please key in OILS/ASIA2 and press enter, or double click between the brackets. * Reuters Terminal users can see cash and futures edible oil prices by double clicking on the codes in the brackets: To go to the next page in the same chain, hit F12. To go back, hit F11. Vegetable oils OILS/ASIA1 Malaysian palm oil exports SGSPALM1 CBOT soyoil futures 0#BO: CBOT soybean futures 0#S: Indian solvent SOLVENT01 Dalian Commodity Exchange DC/MENU Dalian soyoil futures 0#DBY: Dalian refined palm oil futures 0#DCP: Zhengzhou rapeseed oil 0#COI: European edible oil prices/trades OILS/E