Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks surged on Tuesday as an unexpected leap in housing starts pushed Home Depot and other retailers higher while bullish comments from a broker on Cisco Systems helped technology shares rebound.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 178.73 points, or 2.48 percent, to 7,395.70. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 24.23 points, or 3.21 percent, to 778.12. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> jumped 58.09 points, or 4.14 percent, to 1,462.11.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures settled at their highest level since December, supported by a surge in heating oil and gasoline futures and on options expiration play for the front-month April crude contract.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, April crude settled up $1.81, or 3.82 percent, at $49.16, a barrel, the highest settlement since Dec. 1, 2008's close at $49.28. It traded from $46.53 to $49.82, the highest intraday price since this year's high of $50.47 was reached on Jan. 6.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - May up 1 cent per bushel at $9.12 per bushel. Tight soy stocks, firm cash and slow farmer selling boosting prices.

Argentine government and farmer conflict leading to potential for increased exports of U.S. soy.

CBOT-SOYOIL - May up 0.28 cent at 31.14 cents per lb. Spillover support from higher soy futures and crude oil.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures climbed 1.1 percent on Tuesday, supported by sturdier crude and soyoil markets although expectations of slower exports in the second half of March weighed on sentiment.

The benchmark June contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange ended up 20 ringgit to 1,922 ringgit ($523.8) after going as high as 1,940 ringgit.

Other traded months rose between 5 and 37 ringgit <0#KPO:>. Overall volumes jumped to 15,564 lots of 25 tonnes each from the usual 10,000 lots.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, March 17 (Reuters) - Singapore shares <.FTSTI> dropped more than 1 percent on Tuesday, ending two days of gains, with bank shares falling back as investors turned cautious over the outlook for the U.S. economy.

Thailand's SET index <.SETI> dipped 0.54 percent, pulled down by a 1.95 percent fall in the biggest bank, Bangkok Bank , and Indonesia <.JKSE> eased 0.96 percent, weighed down by a 1.2 percent fall in state-run Bank Rakyat .

Bucking the trend, Malaysia's main stock index <.KLSE> edged up 0.12 percent, pushed up by index heavyweight palm planter Sime Darby , which rose 2.78 percent, and by IOI Corp , which gained 1.6 percent.