Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended little changed in choppy trading on Tuesday, closing out an August the bulls would like to forget.

Positive data surprises sustained a rally for most of the session, but declines in technology shares capped overall gains. The S&P 500 bounced off the key technical level of 1,040 for the third time in the last five sessions.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> edged up 4.99 points, or 0.05 percent, to 10,014.72. The Standard & Poor's 500 <.SPX> ticked up 0.41 point, or 0.04 percent, to 1,049.33. The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> slipped 5.94 points, or 0.28 percent, to close at 2,114.03.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures fell for a second day on Tuesday, ending August with the worst performance in three months, as traders squared books ahead of weekly inventory data forecast to show a further rise in crude inventories.

Worries about bearish fundamentals mingled with fears of a slowing pace of economic recovery, even though the day's economic reports showed that consumer confidence rose this month and home prices rose slightly more than expected in July.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for October delivery settled down $2.78, or 3.72 percent, at $71.92 a barrel, after trading from $71.71 to $74.73.

CBOT-CHICAGO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade grain and soy complex close on Tuesday.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - September down 10 cents at $10.08 per bushel, November down 12-1/2 cents at $10.10. Spillover selling from falling wheat market and better than expected condition ratings for the U.S. crop that led to prospects for bumper production.

CBOT-SOYOIL - September down 0.47 cent per lb at 39.48 cents per lb. Spillover pressure from lower soy and lower crude oil.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil rose 1.1 percent on Monday on concerns of tight supply, although ended off a one-week high hit earlier in the day as some investors booked profits ahead of a public holiday.

September may well become a month of tight global vegetable oil supplies as oil palmestate workers go on extended holidays for Eid Al-Fitr, drought saps rapeseed crops in Europe and on reduced canola output in Canada, traders said.

The benchmark November crude palm oil contract ended up 1.1 percent, or 28 ringgit, at 2,570 Malaysian ringgit ($819) per tonne after rising to as much as 2,585ringgit -- a level unseen since Aug. 19. The market will be closed on Tuesday for National day. Traded volume was 11,614 lots of 25 tonnes each.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Indonesian shares hit a two-week low on Tuesday because of worries about inflation and the interest rate outlook but still ended with slim gains on the month, while other markets in the region were mixed on the day.

Analysts expect inflation in Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy, to have accelerated to a 16-month high of 6.7 percent in August when the data is published on Wednesday, ahead of an interest rate review by the central bank on Friday.

Singapore <.FTSTI> fell 0.2 percent, but Thailand <.SETI> rose 0.4 percent, with foreign investors buying a net 2.4 billion baht ($76.73 million) on the day. The Philippines <.PSI> gained 0.2 percent on resuming trade after a market holiday on Monday.

In Singapore, property developers fell for the second day after the government announced measures to cool the city-state's red-hot market, joining Hong Kong and China in taking steps to keep a lid on housing prices.