Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks plunged as much as 9 percent on Thursday as losses caused by Europe's debt crisis turned into a stampede of automated selling, pushing the euro to an almost 14 month-low and gold to near record highs.

U.S. regulators investigated whether erroneous orders caused a 10-minute nose-dive that dragged the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> into its biggest ever intraday drop in terms of points, a fall of 998.5 points at its low point.

Nearly $1 trillion was wiped off U.S. equity values before prices clawed back much of their losses. The Dow, already down on concerns that Greece's debt crisis could spread to other euro zone countries, lost 651 points in under 10 minutes starting around 2:40 pm and then recovered all of that plunge within half an hour.

The index closed down 347.80 points, or 3.20 percent, at 10,520.32. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> fell 37.75 points, or 3.24 percent, to 1,128.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> lost 82.65 points, or 3.44 percent, to 2,319.64.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures slipped in choppy trading on Thursday, pressured by the stronger dollar and the euro's tumble on fears the Greek debt crisis may spread to other countries in Europe.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:24 a.m. EDT (1424 GMT), June crude was down 60 cents, or 0.75 percent, at $79.37 a barrel, trading from $78.24 to $80.3.

CBOT-CHICAGO, May 6 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade grains and soy complex at the close on Thursday.
NOTE: Tumble in equities market unnerved grain markets. Pressure also from higher dollar and lower oil.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - July down 24 cents at $9.54 per bushel; new-crop November down 26-3/4 cents at $9.28-3/4.

CBOT-SOYOIL - July down 0.81 cent at 38.12 cents per lb. Lower with soybeans.

FCPO-JAKARTA, May 6 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures closed down on Thursday, tracking weaker crude oil prices, and expectations of lower palm oil output and stocks in April weighed on market sentiment.

The market will probably trade in a tight range in the near term, said one trader in Kuala Lumpur, adding that he saw the support and resistance levels for crude palm oil futures at 2,500 and 2,550 ringgit.

The benchmark July palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives fell 0.28 percent, or 7 ringgit, to 2,523 ringgit ($821.48) a tonne. Overall traded volume surged to 17,263 lots of 25 tonnes each, compared with the usual daily average of 10,000 lots.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, May 6 (Reuters) - Indonesia's stock market fell to its lowest level in six weeks on Thursday in continued reaction to the announcement its reformist finance minister was quitting, and Greece's economic woes rattled other regional markets.

Jakarta continued to react negatively to Sri Mulyani Indrawati's decision to quit to join the World Bank in June although some analysts said the impact would be short-lived and the risk to economic policy was manageable.

Singapore <.FTSTI> eased 0.7 percent, Malaysia <.KLSE> lost 0.3 percent and Thailand <.SETI> dropped 1.5 percent. The Philippines <.PSI> edged down 0.3 percent, but Vietnam <.VNI>, Southeast Asia's best performer this year, ended up 0.3 percent.

In Singapore, the index dropped at one point to its lowest since March 5, led by banks and blue chips. United Overseas Bank dropped 1.1 percent and top developer CapitaLand was 0.8 percent lower.

Bucking the trend, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp gained 0.6 percent to S$8.64. Broker Citi raised its target price to S$9.9 and maintained a buy rating.

In Kuala Lumpur, Sime Darby fell 0.6 percent after broker CIMB downgraded its rating to neutral from a trading buy. Credit Suisse is keeping its underweight rating on Malaysian equities, but said the Southeast Asian market was "a relatively safe place to hide" given volatile global market conditions.