Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Global equities surged and U.S. oil eked out a gain on Friday on news that U.S. job losses last month were the smallest in a year.

The U.S. jobless rate climbed to 9.7 percent last month, the highest since June 1983. The increase suggests consumer spending will remain weak and impede the U.S. economy's recovery from the worst recession in seven decades.

However, employers cut 216,000 jobs, the smallest losses since August 2008, even as payroll losses in June and July were 49,000 more than initially estimated.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> closed up 96.66 points, or 1.03 percent, at 9,441.27. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 13.16 points, or 1.31 percent, at 1,016.40. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> rose 35.58 points, or 1.79 percent, at 2,018.78.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Sept 4 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended slightly higher on Friday, in a cautious response to economic data which showed that while unemployment soared to a 26-year high in August, there were fewer jobs lost than expected in the
month.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, October crude settled up 6 cents, or 0.09 percent, at $68.02 a barrel, trading from $67.12 to $68.78.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - September down 21 cents at $9.61 a bushel; November down 19-1/2 at $9.22.

Slides to fresh five-month low as spot basis market plunges as processors, exporters wait for freshly harvested soybeans. U.S. harvest expected to be a record, with no crop-killing frost forecast in near term.

CBOT-SOYOIL - September down 0.43 cent at 33.65 cents per lb. Falls along with soybeans.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures dropped nearly 1 percent on Friday to hit a fresh five-week low as investors unwound more positions from a market that has fallen all week.

The benchmark November contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derirvative Exchange settled down 21 ringgit at 2,197 ringgit ($623.2) a tonne, a level unseen since July 31.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets edged higher on Friday, helped by Wall Street's gain overnight, with Thai stocks <.SETI> hitting a one-year high, helped by buying of telecommunication and construction shares.

Singapore's benchmark stock index <.FTSTI> rose for a second day, up 0.94 percent, Malaysia's market <.KLSE> edged up 0.43 percent, having hit a near three-week high earlier, but Indonesia's main stock index <.JKSE> ended flat.

The Philippine index <.PSI> closed up nearly 1.0 percent, recovering from Thursday's drop to a near two-week low, helped by news inflation hit a 22-year low, supporting views that interest rates would remain unchanged until the end of this year.