Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) - Stocks mostly fell on Monday as energy shares sold off on lower oil prices and the onset of earnings season was clouded by concern company outlooks may fall short of expectations.

Worries that increased raw material costs and the effects from Japan's earthquake may affect coming quarters will put companies' forward-looking statements under increased scrutiny.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 1.06 points, or 0.01 percent, at 12,381.11. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> fell 3.71 points, or 0.28 percent, at 1,324.46. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> lost 8.91 points, or 0.32 percent, at 2,771.51.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures fell on Monday in a selloff triggered by a Goldman Sachs note to clients that they take profits after an extended rally.

Worries that high oil prices could reduce demand and stunt the economic recovery also spurred caution and sparked some liquidations, traders said.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for May delivery settled at $109.92a barrel, down $2.87 or 2.54 percent. It traded from $109.55 to $113.46, which was the highest since intraday prices hit $113.46 on Sept. 22, 2008.

CBOT-CHICAGO, April 11 (Reuters) - U.S. soybean futures ended nearly 2 percent lower on Friday, under pressure from China export concerns and expectations for a bumper crop of soybeans in South America, traders said.

Earlier on Monday, an official with China's state-owned trading house COFCO Co Ltd said China is is likely to cancel or defer some cargoes because of poor crushing margins.

In addition, the Chinese company revised down China's soy imports in 2010/11 to between 53 million and 54 million tonnes, down from an earlier estimate of 54.5 million tonnes,

FCPO-JAKARTA, April 11 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures ended off a three-week high on Monday as higher than expected stocks erased earlier gains driven by competing vegetable oil markets and crude oil.

March palm oil stocks in Malaysia rose to a three-month high on production surging nearly 30 percent. The higher production comes as the South American soy crop get harvested, crushed and channeled into vegetable oil markets.

The benchmark June crude palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives settled up 0.5 percent, or 18 ringgit, at 3,417 ringgit ($1,131). It earlier went as high as 3,454 ringgit -- a level unseen since March 21. Overall traded volume was at 27,224 lots of 25 tonnes each, higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, April 11 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Monday as investors took profits in big-caps and financials while resource shares reversed early gains as global oil prices eased.

Market volume was generally weak, with turnover of most of the bourses falling below a 30-day average. Risk-averse sentiment was compounded by news of another strong earthquake that shook buildings in Tokyo and parts of eastern Japan late on Monday.

The emerging Southeast Asian bourses underperformed most others in Asia on Monday, with the MSCI index of Singapore <.MISG00000PSG> off nearly 1 percent and the MSCI index of Thailand <.MITH00000PTHM> around 0.9 percent lower by 0938 GMT.

The MSCI Emerging index <.MSCIEF> edged down 0.3 percent and Asia stocks outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> were down 0.2 percent.

The region's weaknesses came amid mixed fund flows. The Philippines drew in $13 million of foreign inflows on Monday, adding on $330 million over the past seven sessions, while Indonesia gained $26 million, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Malaysia reported small fund outflows of $3.2 million, after $450 million of inflows during the past 12 sessions. Thailand had an injection of $24 million on top of $1.22billion in the past 13 sessions, the exchange said.

In Singapore, upcoming first quarter corporate earnings are expected to be lacklustre, hurt by slowing growth in most developed economies. Profit taking also hit oil-related sectors.

Oil rig builder Keppel Corp fell 1.7 percent on Monday while Sembcorp Marine dipped 0.8 percent. Among the region's losers, Indonesia's second-biggest lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia dropped 2.4 percent, climbing to an intraday record at one point, and Malaysian top lender Maybank off 0.1percent, erasing some of 2 percent rise to five-month highs last week.

In Singapore, Aztech Group , an electronics, materials supply and marine logistics company, fell 5.4 percent after it said it will record a loss for its first quarter, compared with a profit a year earlier.