Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, April 8 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell late on Friday as a spike in oil prices revived worries that inflation would derail the recovery, jolting a market that had been treading water ahead of corporate earnings.

The uncertain outcome of budget talks in Washington and the prospect of a U.S. government shutdown as a midnight deadline loomed spurred investors to buy protection ahead of the weekend. Many traders bought short-term put options on the SPDR S&P 500 Trust .

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 29.59 points, or 0.24 percent, at 12,379.90. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 5.36 points, or 0.40 percent, at 1,328.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 15.73 points, or 0.56 percent, at 2,780.41.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, April 8 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended at their highest level in 30 months on Friday, rising for the sixth day in seven and pushing gains to a third week, as a decline in the dollar spurred a broad rally in commodities.

The dollar was weighed dowm by a potential government shutdown which analysts said could hinder economic recovery, and by expectations that interest-rate differentials will widen further in Europe's favor.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude futures for May delivery settled at $112.79 a barrel, the highest price since Sept. 22, 2008, when front-month prices closed at $120.92. It traded from $110.11 to $112.86.

CBOT-CHICAGO, April 8 (Reuters) - U.S. soybean futures ended nearly flat on the week but more than 2 percent higher on Friday, rallying on the unwinding of long corn/short soybean spreads as well as near-term bullish technical signals, traders said.

May soybeans edged past minor resistance in the May contracts around $13.93, with the next upside target seen between $14.09 and $14.10.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures hit more than two-week highs on Friday as higher prices of competing crude oil and soyoil markets may kick in more fuel and food demand for the tropical oil.

Traders are expecting Malaysian palm oil exports for the first ten days of April to rise about 7 percent to above 380,000 tonnes from a month ago. Higher demand comes at time when palm oil supplies are rising in Malaysia.

The benchmark June crude palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives settled up 2.1 percent or 71 ringgit to 3,399 ringgit ($1,122) per tonne, after going as high as 3,400 ringgit -- a level unseen since March 22. Overall traded volume more than doubled to 32,390 lots of 25 tonnes each, above the usual 15,000 lots.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, April 8 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets eked out small gains in moderate volume on Friday, with high oil prices boosting appetite for resource shares and cautious investors chasing overbought equities.

The region has started to see some profit taking following a spell of foreign inflows into Asia in the wake of renewed dollar weakness and strong regional currencies, including those of Southeast Asia.

Turnover for most sharemarkets was around their 30-day averages, including Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. Most bourses fared worse on the week, with Malaysia at just 0.14 percent and Indonesia at 0.9 percent.

Singapore's Keppel Corp , the world's largest oil rig builder, gained 0.3 percent and Philippine energy producer Aboitiz Power Corp advanced 1.3 percent.

Banks, among rallying shares this week, eased off. Thai fourth largest lender Siam Commercial Bank dropped 1.3 percent, climbing to a 14-year high at one point, and Malaysia's AMMB Holdings lost 1.4 percent, coming off two-month highs.