Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, March 27 (Reuters) - Wall Street capped a strong week on a down note on Friday as investors booked profits in the wake of the recent upward surge and bank shares dropped after bank executives indicated March had been a tougher month
for the industry than the previous two.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 148.38 points, or 1.87 percent, to 7,776.18. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> shed 16.92 points, or 2.03 percent, to 815.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> slid 41.80 points, or 2.63 percent, to 1,545.20.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, March 27 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended more than 3 percent lower on Friday as traders booked profits after prices rose to a four-month high above $54 on Thursday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, May crude settled at $52.38, down $1.96 or 3.61 percent, trading from $51.64 to $54.28. Thursday's $54.66 intraday high was a 2009 peak and the highest since Nov. 28.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - May down 27 cents per bushel at $9.17 per bushel.

Drop of stock market, weak crude oil and firm dollar weighed on soy as did news China was releasing soy into the local market [ID:nPEK184023] and optimism that the Argentine farmer strike will end by the weekend.

CBOT-SOYOIL - May down 1.18 cents per lb. at 32.42 cents per lb. Following soybeans with lower crude oil also weighing on prices.

FCPO-JAKARTA, March 27 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures dropped 2.2 percent on Friday as investors, made uneasy by a lack of physical market deals, took profits following a sharp rise in the previous session, traders said.

The benchmark June contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange dropped 45 ringgit to 1,990 ringgit ($550) per tonne. The contract rose 3.2 percent on Thursday.

Other traded months dropped by between 6 and 30 ringgit. <0#KPO:>. Overall volume was 11,579 lots of 25 tonnes each.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, March 27 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stocks mostly
ended higher on Friday amid optimism that the U.S. economy might see better times soon, but Singapore bucked the trend due to losses in index heavyweights such as DBS Group.

Singapore's Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> closed down 0.75 percent but was still up 9.3 percent on the week, hovering around eight-week highs.

Malaysian shares <.KLSE> snapped earlier losses to close unchanged. The Indonesian bourse <.JKSE> touched an 11-week high, adding 3.01 percent, and Thai shares <.SETI> rose 0.32 percent, but analysts said an anti-government rally in Bangkok capped gains.