Monday, January 10, 2011

Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, Jan 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday after a court ruling in a key foreclosure case prompted investors to pull out of bank stocks, adding to weakness after a lackluster jobs report.

Even with the decline, however, the S&P 500 and Dow recorded their sixth straight week of advances. The market has proved resilient despite expectations that stocks were due for a pullback.

On Friday the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> slipped 22.55 points, or 0.19 percent, to 11,674.76. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was off 2.35 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1,271.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> declined 6.72points, or 0.25 percent, to 2,703.17.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Jan 7 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended lower on Friday, closing the first week of the year with the biggest weekly percentage loss in seven weeks as the dollar rose and equities weakened.

The dollar rose after the government reported that the U.S. unemployment rate dropped in December, taking the sting off a lower-than-expected increase in hiring last month.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, February crude settled down 35 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $88.03 a barrel. It traded from $87.25, the lowest since Dec. 17's $87.01, to $89.48. Prices have fallen from a 27-month high of $92.58 hit on Monday and are down for a second week in a row. A year ago, front-month crude settled at $82.66.

CBOT-CHICAGO, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade grain and soy complex futures closed lower on Friday as players adjusted positions amid index-fund portfolio rebalancing, traders said.

The index rebalancing began on Friday and will continue through Thursday and is expected to produce a spate of selling in the next week, with some predicting sales of about 34,000 to 38,000 contracts in corn, 7,500 in soybeans and a little more than 19,000 in wheat.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - March down 13 cents at $13.65 per bushel. Funds sold an estimated net 6,000 contracts.

CBOT-SOYOIL - March down 0.59 at 56.82 cents per lb. Funds sold an estimated net 4,000 contracts. Late sales of 1,500 to 2,000 contracts were tied to index fund rebalance sales.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Malaysia's crude palm oil futures hit one-week lows on Friday as traders squared profits amid losses in the overseas soy complex, although worries over a supply shortage continued to weigh.

Palm oil rallied to 33-month highs earlier in the week as heavier-than-usual rains stalled harvesting in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia, while dry weather slowed soy planting in South America, raising concern over tight supplies.

The benchmark March 2011 crude palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives fell as much as 2.7 percent to settle at 3,761 ringgit ($1,224.483) a tonne -- a level unseen since Dec. 30, 2010. Overall traded volume doubled to 30,156lots of 25 tonnes each.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Friday as investors turned cautious before job data that might provide more evidence of a stronger U.S. economic recovery, while foreign-led selling pulled Indonesia to its lowest in nearly two weeks.

Indonesia's main index <.JKSE> finished down 2.8 percent as investors locked in profits in Southeast Asia's best performer of 2010. Singapore <.FTSTI> and most others saw smaller losses.

Despite the bearish session, brokers in the region remained generally optimistic. Malaysia <.KLSE> set new records early in the week and was the best performer, posting a 3.5 percent rise on the week.

It gained 0.2 percent on the day, bucking the general market trend, thanks to buying interest in telecommunications shares, including the biggest, Telekom Malaysia , which jumped 4.8 percent.