Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, Dec 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rallied on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve rewrote its playbook by slashing borrowing costs to a record low, even zero, and pledging more unconventional steps to fight the deepest recession in generations.

Banks led the charge higher, spurred both by the Fed's move to cap its target lending rate at a quarter percentage point and by a quarterly loss from Wall Street icon Goldman Sachs that was not as gruesome as many feared.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 359.61 points, or 4.20 percent, to 8,924.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> jumped 44.61 points, or 5.14 percent, to 913.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> climbed 81.55 points, or 5.41 percent, to 1,589.89.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Dec 16 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended 2 percent lower on Tuesday as concerns about the economy after the Federal Reserve cut its target for overnight interest rates trumped the weak dollar and OPEC's intent to cut oil output.

All the news is supportive, OPEC and the weak dollar, yet oil coming back off tells you the bears are still in control," said Tom Bentz, analyst at BNP Paribas Commodity Futures Inc.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, January crude fell 91 cents, or 2.04 percent, to settle at $43.60 a barrel, trading from $42.56 to $46.53.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - January up 12-1/2 cents to $8.58-1/2 a bushel, March up 13-1/2 to $8.63.

Dry weather in Argentina, the world's third largest soy exporter, supporting prices in addition to tight stocks of soy.

CBOT-SOYOIL - January up 0.80 cent to 31.35 cents a lb, March up 0.80 cent at 31.71. Following soybeans.

FCPO-JAKARTA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm futures finished at a one-week low on Tuesday after falling for the third day in a row in the absence of any fresh news to renew buying interest, traders said.

The benchmark March palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia's Derivatives Exchange settled down 35 ringgit, or 2.22 percent, at 1,545 ringgit ($435) per tonne.

Other traded contracts fell between 31 and 36 ringgit. The overall volume was 9,676 lots of 25 tonnes each.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-Southeast Asian markets elsewhere were mixed amid expectations of interest rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve and as a U.S. car sector bailout remained uncertain.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> inched up 0.4 percent, after a gain of almost 2 percent on Monday.

In Kuala Lumpur, some analysts said local sentiment turned cautious because of the U.S. markets, but the key share index ended 0.98 percent higher after a 0.68 percent fall on Monday.

Indonesia's main stock index <.JKSE> bucked the trend, sliding 1.2 percent after a 7.63 percent rise on Monday