Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday, with the Dow marking its best four-week winning streak since 1933, lifted by robust results from Research in Motion and comments by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the central bank will do everything it can to stabilize banks.

Growing conviction that the worst is over for the economy helped Wall Street shrug off dour jobs data showing the highest unemployment rate since 1983.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> climbed 39.51 points, or 0.50 percent, to 8,017.59. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 8.12 points, or 0.97 percent, to 842.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 19.24 points, or 1.20 percent, to 1,621.87.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended slightly lower on Friday, clawing their way back from the day's low near $51, as Wall Street bounced following an early slide on gloomy jobs data.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, May crude settled down 13 cents, or 0.25 percent, at $52.51 a barrel, trading from $51.02 to $53.90.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - May up 18-1/2 cents at $9.95-1/2 per bushel.

Tight stocks of soy, low soy yields in South American soy harvest, big export sales of U.S. soy and lingering support from Tuesday's bullish USDA 2009 U.S. soy plantings estimate.

CBOT-SOYOIL - May up 0.22 cent at 35.32 cents per lb. Late surge in soy boosted soyoil.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures firmed on Friday after hitting a new six-month high in the previous session as traders shifted focus towards an imminent global vegetable oil squeeze.

The benchmark June contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 6 ringgit to 2,165 ringgit ($604.7) per tonne after going as high as 2,185 ringgit.

Other traded months were either marginally higher or lower <0#KPO:>. Overall volume doubled to 20,314 lots of 25 tonnes each, compared with the normal 10,000 lots.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, April 3 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets
closed higher on Friday, cheered by news from the London G20 summit and improving U.S. data.

Singapore's Straits Time Index <.FTSTI> rose as much as 1.4 percent to 1,827.84, a level unseen since Jan. 9, before closing 0.97 percent higher, while Malaysia's main stock index <.KLSE> ended up 0.21 percent at an 11-week high.

Thailand's SET index <.SETI> erased early losses caused by political concerns and rose 0.7 percent to a seven-week high, and Indonesia's main index <.JKSE> rose 0.8 percent to its highest since October last year before closing flat.