Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, Aug 24 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended the day barely changed on Monday as investors took a break from a four-day rally that lifted major indexes to 10-month highs.

Wall Street initially charged higher, but a sharp gain in U.S. Treasury debt prices, which drove benchmark yields lower, triggered a sell-off in stocks.

U.S. Treasury debt prices rose on Monday, with the 30-year bond gaining almost 2 full points, as investors did some bargain hunting after Friday's sharp losses and the Federal Reserve bought government debt.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 3.32 points, or 0.03 percent, to end at 9,509.28. But the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> inched down just 0.56 of a point, or 0.05 percent, to 1,025.57 and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> shed 2.92 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,017.98.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Aug 24 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended higher on Monday on economic recovery hopes, but pared gains near the close as Wall Street trimmed its intraday highs.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, October crude settled up 48 cents, or 0.65 percent, at $74.37, the highest settlement since Oct. 15, 2008's $74.54. October crude traded from $73.57 to $74.81, the highest front-month intraday price since Oct. 21, 2008's $75.69.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - September up 57 cents at $10.80 a bushel; November up 34-1/2 at $10.07-1/2.

Chinese demand for U.S. soy, a drought in China that was leading to concern about the soy crop there and an immature U.S. soy crop that could be harmed by an early frost combine to lift soybean futures.

Talk of China buying three to four cargoes of U.S. soybeans during the weekend supportive.

CBOT-SOYOIL - September up 0.78 cent at 37.11 cents per lb. Spillover support from strong gains in soy combined with firm crude oil lift soyoil futures.

FCPO-JAKARTA, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose 1.3 percent on Monday, but came off a one-week high hit earlier in the day following market talk of a drop in palm oil exports for the August 1-25 period, traders said.

Benchmark November palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 30 ringgit to 2,375 ($677.0) per tonne, after rising as high as 2,402 ringgit, a level not seen since Aug. 14. Overall volume was 17,937 lots of 25 tonnes each.

REGIONAL Equities-BANGKOK, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock indexes hovered around a one-week high on Monday, buoyed by optimism about economic recovery, with property and financials such as CapitaLand and DBS leading the way in Singapore.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> climbed 2.7 percent to close at its highest since Aug. 14, with CapitaLand , Southeast Asia's largest developer, rising 3 percent and top lender DBS Group adding 2.1 percent.

Malaysia's index <.KLSE> added 0.9 percent to its highest since Aug. 17, Indonesia's index <.JKSE> gained 1.8 percent to its highest since Aug. 18 and Thailand's index <.SETI> added 1.4 percent to its highest since September last year. The Philippine index <.PSI> jumped 5.1 percent and Vietnam's <.VNI> rose for a fourth day, ending 1.7 percent higher.