Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, Dec 18 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday in choppy trade as quarterly results from Oracle and Research In Motion lifted the Nasdaq more than 1 percent, but the U.S. dollar's climb curbed gains in both the Dow and the S&P 500.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> added 20.63 points, or 0.20 percent, to 10,328.89. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 6.39 points, or 0.58 percent, to 1,102.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> climbed 31.64 points, or 1.45 percent, to 2,211.69.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Dec 18 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures rose nearly 1 percent in choppy pre-holiday trade on Friday, on short covering ahead of the January contract expiration on Monday.

A dispute between Iran and Iraq and cold weather across the U.S. and Europe helped support prices.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange January crude rose 71 cents, or 0.98 percent, to settle at $73.36, trading from $72.55 to $74.69.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - January down 10 cents per bushel at $10.12. Firm dollar lends pressure, with additional weight from good soy crop weather in South America.

CBOT-SOYOIL - January down 0.31 cent per lb at 38.33 cents per lb. Spillover pressure from lower soy and firm dollar; fading gains in crude oil add pressure.

FCPO-JAKARTA, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures jumped 1.3 percent on Thursday to the highest closing level in six and a half months as investors continued to bet on good demand and prospects of tight supply, traders said.

The benchmark March contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange settled up 34 ringgit at 2,620 ringgit ($762.74) per tonne, the highest closing level since June 1.

Overall volume shot up to 22,564 lots of 25 tonnes each, more than double the usual 10,000 lots.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets
mostly edged down on Friday in thin turnover, with concerns about the earnings outlook at top U.S. financial firms fuelling selling in banks such as Singapore's DBS Group and Thailand's Bangkok Bank.

Singapore's benchmark stock index <.FTSTI> fell 0.38 percent, after rising to its highest in more than a year the previous day, and Thailand's main index <.SETI> ended flat, after dropping as much as 0.64 percent.

The Philippine stock market <.PSI> closed down 1.02 percent, having hit a one-week low in early trade, but Vietnam <.VNI> rose 1.95 percent, a day after falling to a near-five-month low. Stock markets in Malaysia <.KLSE> and Indonesia <.JKSE> were
closed for holidays.