Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, Aug 1 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 fell for a sixth day on Monday as time runs out for the government to pass a deal to avoid default and the economy showed further signs of stalling.

The market pared losses late in the day before Congress was expected to vote on Monday on a debt deal backed by the White House, which includes spending cuts of $2.4trillion over 10 years.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 10.75 points, or 0.09 percent, to 12,132.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX fell 5.34 points, or 0.41 percent, to 1,286.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC lost 11.77 points, or 0.43 percent, to 2,744.61.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures ended lower on Monday in volatile trading, giving up early gains after a weak reading from the Institute for Supply Management for its U.S. manufacturing index.

A tentative, White House-backed deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avert an unprecedented debt default lifted oil prices early, before the disappointing manufacturing report weighed on crude and equities markets.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, September crude CLU1 fell 81 cents, or 0.85 percent, to settle at $94.89 a barrel, the lowest close since ending at $93.46 on June 28. The close was below front-month crude's $94.94 200-day moving average.

CBOT-SOYBEANS-Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures closed higher on a rally in corn as hot weather threatened to trim output of each crop.

Portions of the U.S. corn and soybean growing region will stay stressed from heat this week, but relief was expected by the weekend, an agricultural meteorologist said on Monday.

FCPO-JAKARTA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures extended gains on Monday, boosted by export data and as risk aversion eased after Washington reached a last-minute deal to raise the U.S. debt limit and escape default.

The benchmark October contract KPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed 0.8 percent higher at 3,121 Malaysian ringgit ($1,051.550) per tonne after going as high as 3,136.

Traded volumes for the contract were 11,313 lots of 25 tonnes each, compared to 11,125 lots on Friday.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Major Southeast Asian stock markets pushed higher on Monday as investors snapped up financial and resource stocks in reporting season and markets cheered reports that the United States had reached a last-minute deal to escape default.

Worries about the U.S. debt crisis appeared to ease, sending sharemarkets to fresh peaks, including new all-time highs for stocks in Indonesia .JKSE and the Philippines .PSI.

Shares on both bourses gained around one percent on the day. Others posted smaller gains, with Thai stocks .SETI scaling 15-year highs and Singapore .FTSTI rising to its highest in almost six months.

In Singapore, property developer City Developments CTDM.SI rose 2.8 percent, buoyed by hopes that interest rates would stay put in the near term after Washington's deal to cut its deficit, traders said.