Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, June 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as an unexpected drop in consumer confidence cooled recent optimism about an economic recovery, but Wall Street still closed out its best quarter in a decade.

The drop in the Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence in June suggested that the 18-month-long recession had yet to loosen its grip on the U.S. economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> slipped 82.38 points, or 0.97 percent, to 8,447.00. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> dropped 7.91 points, or 0.85 percent, to 919.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> shed 9.02 points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,835.04.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, June 30 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures pared losses in post-settlement trading on Tuesday after industry inventory data showed crude stocks fell much more than expected last week.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August crude was down 89 cents or 1.24 percent, at $70.60 a barrel. It had earlier settled down $1.60, or 2.24 percent, at $69.89, trading from $68.90 to $73.38, highest since Oct. 21 when crude hit $75.69.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - July up 11-1/4 cents per bushel at $12.26-1/4. November down 2-1/2 at $9.81.

Following weakness in corn. July/November spread continues to firm amid fears of limited supplies in the country. USDA's June plantings forecast pegged 2009 U.S. soy acreage at 77.483 million (31.4 million hectares), below an average of analysts' estimates for 78.121 million.

CBOT-SOYOIL - July down 0.76 cent at 35.02 cents a lb. Drop in soybeans and weakness in crude oil prices weigh on market.

FCPO-JAKARTA, June 30 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm futures dropped for a third consecutive trading day on Tuesday as lower-than-expected June palm oil exports sparked fears over the outlook for demand, traders said.

The benchmark September palm oil contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 32 ringgit, or 1.4 percent, to 2,230 ringgit ($634.8) a tonne. Overall traded volume was 13,879 lots at 25 tonnes each.

The benchmark contract lost 12.9 percent in June, its biggest monthly fall since last October.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, June 30 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets
erased early gains on Tuesday as late selling pulled Singapore and Malaysia off the two-week highs reached earlier on the back of hopes for economic recovery and higher oil prices.

Markets in the region posted healthy gains for the April-June quarter, recovering from their weak performance of the previous three months amid expectations that economic growth in Asia could rebound strongly. But some analysts doubted the rally would run much further for now.

Singapore's index <.FTSTI> ended up 0.7 percent on the day after an early gain of almost 2 percent to its highest since June 15, while Malaysia's index <.KLSE> was flat after climbing to its highest since June 16.

In Kuala Lumpur, palm plantation firm Sime Darby fell 1.4 percent and CIMB Bank was down 1.7 percent after saying it might revise up its target for return on equity