Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks surged on Thursday as expectations of reassuring results from bellwethers, including Google, lifted technology shares, while JPMorgan's better-than-expected profit added to bank stabilization hopes.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 95.81 points, or 1.19 percent, to 8,125.43. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 13.24 points, or 1.55 percent, to 865.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> jumped 43.64 points, or 2.68
percent, to 1,670.44.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures ended higher on Thursday, just below $50 a barrel, as traders dealt with the expiration of options on the front May contract.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, May crude settled up 73 cents cents, or 1.48 percent, at $49.98 a barrel, trading from $49.11 to $50.48.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - May up 23-1/2 cents at $10.58-1/2 per bushel.

Rallies to new six-month high of $10.59 per bushel amid strong demand for soy by China and shrinking supplies, in addition to support from news late on Wednesday that the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange trimmed its estimate for Argentine soy output for this year to 37 million tonnes, from a previous estimate of 39.4 million.

CBOT-SOYOIL - May down 0.20 cent per lb. at 36.75 cents per lb.

Profit-taking after big gains early in the week weighing on market, but soyoil underpinned by gains in soy.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm futures fell 1.7 percent on Thursday as traders paused to take profits from a rally triggered by expectations of lower domestic inventories and strengthening global soyoil markets.

The benchmark July contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled down 40 ringgit at 2,358 ringgit ($655) per tonne after posting gains in the morning session.

Other traded months rose between 30 and 75 ringgit while the November contract inched up <0#KPO:>. Overall volume climbed to 16,116 lots from the normal 10,000 lots of 25 tonnes each.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, April 16 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets ended mixed on Thursday, some losing early gains after downbeat economic data from China, and political violence pushed Thailand
lower after a holiday, but not by as much as some had feared.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> fell 0.8 percent. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's benchmark stock index <.KLSE> rose 0.5 percent, with biggest power firm Tenaga Nasional surging 6.2 percent after it announced second-quarter earnings that were above expectations. In Jakarta, the main index <.JKSE> rose for a fourth day, up nearly 2 percent at its highest since Oct. 7.