Trader's Highlight

DJI - NEW YORK, July 9 - U.S. stocks edged higher on Thursday as investors bought beaten-down technology and commodity shares, while a positive broker comment on Goldman Sachs boosted the financial sector.

Trading was choppy in light volumes for most of the day as investors remained cautious ahead of more corporate earnings reports in the coming weeks. Alcoa Inc set a positive tone when it kicked off the earnings season with a smaller-than-expected loss after the bell on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 4.76 points, or 0.06 percent, to 8,183.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 3.12 points, or 0.35 percent, to 882.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 5.38 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,752.55.

NYMEX - NEW YORK, July 9 - U.S. crude oil futures ended higher on Thursday, snapping a six-day losing streak amid bargain hunting, a drop in jobless benefit claims and as gasoline futures staged a late, supportive rally.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange settled up 27 cents, or 0.45 percent, at $60.41 a barrel, trading from $59.25 to $61.62. The day's low was the cheapest since May 19, when front-month crude futures hit $58.55.

CBOT - SOYBEANS - July up 26-1/2 cents at $11.10-1/2 a bushel, November up 24 cents at $9.16 a a bushel.

Market rebounding from severe sell-off earlier this week amid support from strong export sales data.

CBOT - SOYOIL - July up 0.50 cent at 32.58 cents a lb.

Oversold technical signals lead to short-covering. Gains in soybean futures also lend support.

FCPO - KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 - Malaysian crude palm oil futures gained 2.3 percent on Thursday as traders bet on better exports for this month, softening on an earlier stance that the weak global economy would hurt vegetable oil demand.

But palm oil, used in products ranging from biofuel to biscuits, has yet to fully recover from 14-week lows hit on Wednesday and has lost nearly 10 percent so far in the second half of 2009.

The benchmark September contract on Bursa Malaysia's Derivatives Exchange closed up 45 ringgit to 2,047 ringgit ($574.5) per tonne. On Wednesday, the contract fell to 1,983 ringgit, a level unseen since March 31.

REGIONAL EQUITIES - BANGKOK, July 9 - Southeast Asian shares ended mostly higher on Thursday, with a rise in Singapore fuelled by big caps such as SingTel and CapitaLand, but the Indonesian index managed only modest gains after the
presidential election.

Singapore's Straits Times Index recovered from a two-week drop to lead the market rally, rising 2.1 percent, with Thailand breaking a four-day losing streak, adding 1.1 percent. Philippine shares added 0.5 percent.

Malaysia and Vietnam finished flat. In Indonesia, the Jakarta index ended just 0.03 percent higher after provisional results showed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won a resounding election victory.