Benchmark June crude palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives gained 0.1 percent to 3,265 ringgit ($1,078) per tonne after earlier hitting a high at 3,305.
"Initially in the morning, the market was up on the back of Friday's CBOT (price) and the early morning Dalian was up," said a palm oil trader. "Our market has roller coasted downwards."
He added that a range of around 3,250 to 3,300 could be expected throughout Monday's trading session.
The most-active Sept 2011 soyoil on the Dalian Commodity Exchange traded at 10,038 yuan versus an open at 10,120 yuan.
US corn prices opened higher after hitting a two-week high on Friday over the sixth-largest single-day sale of US corn to an unspecified buyer, believed to be China.
Palm oil, used in products such as food, cosmetics, tyres and biofuels, shed 5.4 percent last week as prices were pressured by talk of double-digit output growth in March early in the week.
On Feb. 10, prices touched 3,967 ringgit, a peak not seen since March 2008 on concerns that seasonally heavy rains have stalled harvesting in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia.
Palm oil however, is moving into a higher production cycle, which many analysts say, could put downward pressure on prices in the coming months.
"The fairly common view is that going into a higher production period, that there is expectation for some softness over the next year," said one analyst.
Traded volume on the benchmark stood at 5,919 lots of 25 tonnes each, versus a total of 20,512 lots on Friday.
ICDX's June CPO futures contract was at 9,470 rupiah per kg, compared to 9,545 rupiah per kg when it opened. Market volume was 649 lots of 10 tonnes each.
Late on Friday, cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance showed palm oil exports during the same period fell 0.3 percent.
Societe Generale de Surveillance and fellow cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services are due to issue Malaysia's March exports on Thursday.
"We saw from last month's numbers, that it was certainly bearish as far as prices went," the analyst added. "If we get another situation where demand is pretty horrific like last month, you could say supply is no longer tight."
Offering some support, oil was steady with Brent stabilising near $116 as investors looked to geopolitical factors to maintain near-record long speculative positions, while flaring unrest over the weekend was limited to minor crude exporters Syria and Yemen.
Many analysts see say palm oil investors are yet to fully factor in the positive impact of higher crude oil prices to bolster biodiesel demand and offset better harvests.
"Crude is supportive, but not the catalyst," the palm oil trader said.