Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as news of an alternative stimulus plan from Senate Republicans suggested lawmakers were moving closer to a package that would soften the blow of a deepening recession.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> jumped 141.53 points, or 1.78 percent, to 8,078.36. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> added 13.07 points, or 1.58 percent, to 838.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> shot up 21.87 points, or 1.46 percent, to 1,516.30.

A group of Republican U.S. senators offered a $445 billion alternative plan to boosting the ailing economy, about half of which would be in the form of tax cuts. The plan is an alternative to the $885 billion package crafted by Democrats who control the Senate.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures rebounded on Tuesday amid OPEC talk about more production cuts and as Wall Street rose on positive housing sales data for December.

In post-settlement trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT) March crude was up 79 cents at $40.87 a barrel. It earlier settled up 70 cents, or 1.75 percent, at $40.78, trading from $39.65 to $41.17.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - March down 13-1/2 cents to $9.46 a bushel. Showers in drought-stricken Argentina, the world's third largest soy exporter, weigh on soybean futures. Concerns about waning demand for soy amid the global economic crisis also pressuring prices.

CBOT-SOYOIL - March down 0.23 cent at 31.53 cents a pound. Following soy lower but underpinned by early firm tone in crude oil.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm futures covered little ground on Tuesday as some investors trimmed positions, discouraged by weaker export data, while others were looking to buy on recovering crude and soyoil markets.

The benchmark April contract settled up 9 ringgit at 1,788 ringgit ($494.2). Other traded contracts ranged between 23 ringgit gains to losses of 15 ringgit <0#KPO:>. Overall volume was 9,741 lots of 25 tonnes each.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stocks ended mixed
on Tuesday, with Singapore and Thailand rising on bargain hunting in financials such as DBS Group and Bangkok Bank, but growing worries over deepening recession kept other markets cautious.

Singapore's benchmark index <.FTSTI> gained 0.39 percent and Thai shares <.SETI> rose 0.65 percent as banks recouped recent falls, with Singapore's top lender DBS up 0.6 percent and Thailand's Bangkok Bank up 1.4 percent.

Malaysian shares <.KLSE> eased 0.5 percent, Indonesian shares <.JKSE> shed 0.5 percent, the Philippine index <.PSI> lost 0.4 percent and Vietnam <.VNI> fell for a second day, down 3 percent to a near 2-month low.