Palm oil gained for the first time in four days as investors bought the commodity after the price tumbled to more than a three-month low on concern that the quake and tsunami in Japan may shrink demand for raw materials.

The May-delivery contract climbed 1.5 percent to close at 3,385 ringgit ($1,103) a metric ton after sliding 2.6 percent to 3,250 ringgit, the lowest level since Nov. 26. Prices shed 8 percent last week amid prospects for higher output in Malaysia and Indonesia, the top producers.

“It’s short-covering after the recent selloff,” said Ben Santoso, a plantation analyst at DBS Vickers Securities. “The selloff was too fast as supply is still tight until production comes out around April to May,” he said from Singapore.

Asian stocks plummetted, with the Topix index posting its worst two-day drop since 1987, and Japan’s default risk jumped as Prime Minister Naoto Kan said the danger of further leaks from a nuclear power plant damaged by the nation’s biggest quake was increasing. Commodities including crude oil, gold, copper and corn declined.

Today’s gain in palm oil may not be sustained because “lots of supply will be coming to the market,” Arhnue Tan, a senior investment analyst at ECM Libra Investment Bank, said by telephone from Kuala Lumpur.

Indonesia, the top palm-oil producer, may increase output and shipments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report yesterday. The country may produce 25.4 million tons in the year that begins Oct. 1, from an estimated 23.6 million in the current year. Exports may rise to 19.35 million tons from 17.85 million tons, the agency said.

Malaysian Shipments

Malaysia’s production in February climbed 3.5 percent to 1,094,473 tons, the first gain after three months of declines. Stockpiles rose 4.2 percent to 1,478,793 tons, the country’s palm oil board said March 10. Exports fell 17 percent in the first 15 days of March to 526,407 tons, surveyor Intertek said today. Rival Societe Generale de Surveillance said shipments fell 14.7 percent in the period.

May-delivery soybean oil gained 0.3 percent to 55.54 cents a pound in Chicago at 5:08 p.m. in Singapore after falling as much as 1.1 percent earlier. Soybeans for delivery in the same month dropped 0.2 percent to $13.375 a bushel.

September-delivery palm oil on the Dalian Commodity Exchange gained 0.8 percent to close at 9,058 yuan ($1,378). Soybean oil for delivery in the same month added 0.6 percent to 9,940 yuan. CME Group Inc.’s most-active June palm-oil contract, pegged to the Malaysian benchmark price, rose 2.5 percent to $1,106 at 4:24 p.m. Singapore time.