Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - Big earnings surprises gave a positive turn to investor sentiment on Wednesday, propelling U.S. stocks to their best day in a month and lifting the Dow industrials to their highest in almost three years.

Investors had been set up for a series of disappointments but got an unexpected treat from blue chips Intel Corp and United Technologies Corp , sparking a broad-based rally that puts equities on the path for more gains in coming weeks.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 186.79 points, or 1.52 percent, to 12,453.54. The Standard & Poor's 500 <.SPX> rose 17.74 points, or 1.35 percent, to 1,330.36. The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 57.54 points, or 2.10 percent, to2,802.51.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures jumped 2.9 percent on Wednesday on lift from government data showing sharp drops in crude and refined products stockpiles, an equities rally and a weaker dollar.

U.S. crude oil inventories fell 2.3 million barrels last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly report. Gasoline stocks fell 1.58 million barrels and distillate inventories fell 2.5 million barrels, the EIA said.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, June crude rose $3.17, or 2.93 percent to settle at $111.45 a barrel, trading from $107.96 to $111.66.

CBOT-CHICAGO, April 20 (Reuters) - U.S. soybean futures ended higher on Wednesday, holding early gains as crude oil stayed firm and the U.S. dollar weakened, which allowed soy to shrug off losses in corn, traders said.

Cash traders said bids for corn and soybeans shipped by barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast were mostly steady to weaker early Wednesday, pressured by higher futures and lackluster demand, traders said.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures hit one-week highs on Wednesday as traders booked positions on firmer overseas markets, despite key exports data showing weakening demand.

The weak exports data comes at a time when Malaysia -- the world's No. 2 palm oil producer -- is seeing higher production and a stock buildup due to favourable weather, pressuring prices to a more than three-week low in the previous day.

Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services and Societe Generale de Surveillance on Wednesday said exports of Malaysian palm oil products for April 1 to 20 fell from a month ago, with ITS pegging the drop at 15 percent and SGS at 13 percent.

Benchmark July crude palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives rose 1.8percent to settle at 3,315 ringgit($1,096.049) a tonne after touching a one-week high of 3,336 ringgit -- a level unseen since April 14. Overall traded volume was 26,779 lots of 25 tonnes each, lower than the usual 25,000 lots.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-COLOMBO , April 20 (Reuters) - Southeast Asia's stock markets all rose on Wednesday, with foreign investors snapping up risky assets after some higher-than-expected quarterly earnings and Indonesia scaling a record high on large trading volume.

Jakarta <.JKSE> jumped 1.7 percent to hit a record high of 3,794.76 points, surpassing its previous mark set on Jan 6 with a net foreign inflow of $44.6 million. The day's volume was 1.85 times its 30-day daily average, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Singapore <.FTSTI> added 1.3 percent, helped by banks, with a 1.1 percent rise in top lender DBS and 0.8 percent gain in Oversea Chinese Banking Corp. .

Malaysia <.KLSE> gained 0.6 percent with a $55.7 million foreign inflow, its bourse data showed, while Philippines added 0.7 percent to hit a more than five-month high.