Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, Feb 4 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended higher on Friday and the S&P 500 posted its best week in nine as the market defied calls for a pullback.

Investors rotated into defensive and lagging sectors in a move that could intensify in coming weeks.

Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 29.44 points, or 0.24 percent, at 12,091.70. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 3.73 points, or 0.29 percent, at 1,310.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 15.42 points, or 0.56 percent, at 2,769.30.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Feb 4 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures fell nearly 2 percent on Friday as the market was roiled by an apparently unfounded television report about a possible announcement from Egypt that sparked speculation President Hosni Mubarak could be stepping down.

Mixed signals in the government's unemployment report for January and a rebound in the dollar also pressured crude.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for March delivery settled down $1.51, or 1.67 percent, at $89.03 a barrel, after trading from $88.45 to $91.67.

CBOT-CHICAGO, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade grain and soy complex futures close on Friday.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - March down 2 cents at $14.33-1/2 per bushel. Funds sold an estimated net 4,000 contracts. Improved crop weather in Argentina and prospects for big soybean harvest this season in South America weigh, along with profit-taking near 28-1/2 month highs.

CBOT-SOYOIL - March up 0.20 cent per lb at 58.98. Funds bought 1,000 contracts.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Benchmark palm oil futures rose as much as 2.4 percent on concerns of tight vegetable oil supplies as floods partly submerged oil palm estates in Malaysia, and Argentine port strikes continued for more than a week.

April palm oil on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange climbed 91 ringgit to 3,900 ringgit within the first 20 minutes of trade.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Indonesian stocks eked out small gains on Friday after an interest rate rise soothed inflation concerns and Thai stocks rose to their highest in almost two weeks after a surge in the shares of heavyweight PTT Exploration.

Market volume remained weak due to the Lunar New Year holidays in much of Asia, including Singapore <.FTSTI>, Malaysia <.KLSE> and Vietnam <.VNI>.