Wednesday's session ended like many during the quarter, with a late-day sell-off as buying interest waned and investors sold underperforming stocks in the worst quarter
since the market meltdown triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
"Just pushing all the garbage off the side of the ship," Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey, said of the late sell-off.
The S&P 500 fell below the 1,040 level that it had held since February, breaking out to the downside from what chartists call a very bearish "head and shoulders" price
pattern and suggesting a major fall could come in the next five months.
NYMEX-NEW YORK, June 30 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures fell for the third day in a row on Wednesday, pressured by higher fuel inventories, and finished the quarter with the first quarterly loss since the fourth quarter of 2008 at the height of the financial crisis.
Quarter-end book-squaring sparked some profit-taking for crude. Heating oil and RBOB gasoline contracts fell as their inventories rose and also as their front-month July contracts were liquidated ahead of expiration at the close.
CBOT-CHICAGO, June 30 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade grain and soy complex close on Wednesday.
CBOT-SOYBEANS - July up 1-1/4 cents at $9.48-1/2 per bushel; new-crop November down 9-1/2 cents at $9.02-1/2.
CBOT-SOYOIL - July up 0.35 cent per lb at 36.28 cents per lb. Soyoil/soymeal spreading lifts soyoil and weighs on soymeal with soyoil and garnering support from firm spot soy.
FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose on Wednesday after falling further than a seven-month low earlier in the day as investors took positions on overseas demand, however global economic uncertainty capped gains.
Cargo surveyors Intertek testing services and Societe Generale de Surveillance reported a slight rise in Malaysia's June exports on Wednesday.
"The palm oil price is on the low side because both regional equity markets and commodity prices do not look good, unless the global economy shows a stable recovery," said a trader in Kuala Lumpur.
The benchmark September crude palm oil contract
REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, June 30 (Reuters) - Major Southeast Asian stock markets were mixed on Wednesday, at the end of a lacklustre second quarter for most, amid concerns over funding conditions for European banks and the pace of the global recovery.
Equity markets in Singapore and Thailand had the worst quarterly returns since the first quarter of 2009 but Indonesia managed a gain of 4.9 percent, still not as good as the 9.6 percent gain scored in the first three months.
Singapore's benchmark Straits Times index <.FTSTI> eked out a slim gain of 0.18 percent on Wednesday. It lost 2.19 percent and 2.14 percent in the second quarter and first half respectively, Southeast Asia's worst performer.
Indonesia <.JKSE> rose 0.7 percent on the day. Its six-month gain of nearly 15 percent was the best in the region. Malaysia <.KLSE> edged down 0.4 percent and it had a quarterly loss of 0.5 percent.
