Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rallied for a sixth straight day on Tuesday after Alcoa's quarterly results heartened investors that had fled to the sidelines on jitters about the sustainability of the economic recovery.

Even so, recent low volume suggests the market's longest winning streak since mid-April could be running out of steam, while the cost of protection in the options market against a market drop keeps growing.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 146.75 points, or 1.44 percent, to 10,363.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 16.59 points, or 1.54 percent, to 1,095.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> jumped 43.67 points, or 1.99 percent, to 2,242.03.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended on Tuesday nearly 3 percent higher and posted the highest close in two weeks, as energy investors were encouraged by a rally on Wall Street sparked by earnings optimism.

Major U.S. stock indexes were up sharply in late trading, aided from the opening by better-than-expected results from Alcoa Inc and CSX Corp CSX., which gave a promising start to the earnings season.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August crude settled $2.20 higher, or 2.94 percent, at $77.15 a barrel, the highest close since June 28's settlement at $78.25. It traded from $74.25 to $77.37, the highest intraday since June 29's session peak of $78.32.

CBOT-CHICAGO, July 13 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade grain and soy complex close on Tuesday.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - July down 1-1/4 cents per bushel at $10.30-1/2. New-crop November up 3-1/2 at $9.54-1/2. Profit-taking and adjustment of bull spreads weighed on July while November boosted by unwinding of some bull spreads and on some forecasts for hotter and drier weather in the U.S. in late July and August, which could harm the soybean crop.

CBOT-SOYOIL - July up 0.42 cent per lb at 37.92. Support from oil/meal spreading and gains in crude oil.

FCPO-JAKARTA, July 13 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil closed up on Tuesday as players expected slowing production to support the market and as crude oil prices rebounded.

The benchmark September contract on Bursa Malaysia's Derivatives Exchange closed up 13 ringgit or 0.56 percent to 2,353 ringgit ($735.31) a tonne. Overall volume stood at 13,841 lots of 25 tonnes each, above the usual 10,000 lots.

Malaysian Palm Oil Board said on Monday palm oil production rose 2.5 percent to 1.42 million tonnes in June, lower than the market estimates for a six percent, as yields from key palm oil growing region of Sabah on Borneo Island were still lagging.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-COLOMBO, July 13 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets closed modestly firmer on Tuesday on cautious optimism over the upcoming earning season.

Indonesia <.JKSE>, the region's best performer, and Singapore <.FTSTI> each edged up 0.1 percent, Malaysia <.KLSE> rose 0.5 percent, the Philippines <.PSI> gained 0.9 percent and Vietnam <.VNI> closed 1.8 percent firmer.

In Singapore, oil and gas services firm Ezra Holdings rose 2.8 percent, a day after it reported a 37 percent increase in its third-quarter net profit to $25.7 million and said it was cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the next
12 months.

Singapore-based analysts said they expect trading volumes to pick up from the latter part of July after the release of second-quarter gross domestic product data on Wednesday.

In Kaula Lumpur, gainers included PLUS Expressways' 2.8 percent rise and Genting's 1.1 percent rise.