Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks stopped a three-day slide on Wednesday, but the market is likely to get hit in the coming session after Moody's said it could cut the United States' prized triple-A credit rating.

Stock index futures dropped sharply after Moody's Investors Service said it may cut the United States' triple-A rating due to the rising chance its $14.3 trillion debt ceiling may not be raised by the Aug. 2nd deadline. Failure to increase the country's borrowing limit in time would result in a U.S. default, which could roil financial markets.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 44.73 points, or 0.36 percent, to close at 12,491.61. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX gained 4.08 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,317.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC advanced 15.01 points, or 0.54 percent, to 2,796.92.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures ended higher for a second straight day on Wednesday, lifted by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks signaling more stimulus might be coming if the economy weakens and by data showing a larger-than-expected drop in crude stocks.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is ready to ease monetary policy further if economic growth and inflation slow much more, Bernanke said, giving a boost to the bruised stock market.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August crude CLQ1 rose 62 cents, or 0.64percent, to settle at $98.05 a barrel, having traded from $96.53 to $99.21.

CBOT-SOYBEANS-Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures closed higher on spillover support from gains in corn as hot weather threatened to trim crop output.

Support to soybeans also stemming from the possibility of more fiscal stimulus
measures in the United States, a weak dollar and higher crude oil.


FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rebounded on Wednesday as a U.S. government report showing tight grain stocks owing to rising biofuel use spurred concerns over the prospect of limited food supplies.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture report showed corn stocks have hovered near 15-year lows for longer than expected due to the grain's use in making ethanol, lifting vegetable oils that are also used in other competing renewable fuels.

High stocks in Malaysia however are expected to weigh on palm oil prices although the vegetable oil's rising discount to competing soyoil has prevented the market from going below 3,000 ringgit a tonne in the short term.

Cash refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palm olein's discount to soyoil has widened to $170 a tonne, the highest since November 2008, Reuters data showed.
The benchmark September crude palm oil contract KPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange rose 48 ringgit, or 1.6 percent, to close at 3,082 ringgit ($1,016.50) per tonne.

Overall traded volume stood at 21,582 lots of 25 tonnes each, well below the usual 25,000 lots.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, July 13 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets gained on Wednesday as Chinese economic growth data eased some fears about a global slowdown and resource shares advanced in line with the improving outlook for commodity demand from the world's second-largest economy.

The region snapped a two-day losing streak, also helped by bargain-hunting in recently beaten-down banks as their reporting season kicks off this month and strong consumption suggests a favourable outlook in the financial sector.

Among actively traded stocks, Thai lender Kasikornbank KBAN.BK climbed 1.6 percent, Singapore's United Overseas Bank UOBH.SI gained 1.1 percent and the Philippines' second-biggest lender by assets, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co MBT.PS, jumped 3.3 percent.