Trader's Highlight

DJI-NEW YORK, Sept 12 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday, bouncing back in late trading, as hopes that Italy could get financial support from China tempered investors' worst fears over the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.

Traders started the day braced for a possible downgrade of France's top banks by Moody's Investors Service, but sentiment improved as various European officials succeeded in tamping down fears that political and financial leaders were losing control of the situation.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI finished up 68.99 points, or 0.63 percent, at 11,061.12. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was up 8.04 points, or 0.70 percent, at 1,162.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC ended 27.10 points higher, or 1.10 percent, at 2,495.09.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Sept 12 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures rose on Monday, propped up by spread trading with Brent crude, which took a hit from concerns about the euro zone debt crisis that could weaken Europe's economy and dent oil demand.

OPEC cut its forecast for global oil demand growth for 2011 and 2012 citing a worsening economic outlook. limiting the day's gains.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for October delivery CLV1 settled at $88.19 a barrel, gaining 95 cents, or 1.09 percent. It had traded between $85 and $88.95.

CBOT-SOYBEANS-Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell after the U.S. Department of Agriculture surprised the market by raising its forecast of the U.S. 2011 soybean yield in a monthly report, traders said.

Market pressured as traders unwound long soy/short corn inter-market spreads. Active trade in soybean futures with volume near 200,000 contracts, about 30 percent higher than the 30-day average.

FCPO-JAKARTA, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures traded near one-month highs on Monday, in line with other vegetable oil markets, as investors positioned themselves ahead of key industry data from the United States.

Benchmark November palm oil FCPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange ended up 0.7 percent at 3,071 Malaysian ringgit ($1,023) per tonne. Prices earlier hit a peak at 3,076.

Exchange volumes for the November contract were thin at 5,862 lots of 25 tonnes each versus 7,895 lots on Friday.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Southeast Asia's stock markets retreated on Monday as pessimism over the euro zone debt crisis triggered broad sell-offs in regional blue chips, with Indonesia and Singapore seeing their biggest losses in three weeks.

Volumes were light, about two-thirds the region's monthly average, in part due to holidays in big Asian centres including China, Taiwan and South Korea.

Among most actively traded, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. STEL.SI dropped 2.3 percent, Indonesia's largest lender Bank Mandiri BMRI.JK plunged 4.2 percent and Thai top energy firm PTT PTT.BK eased 2.2 percent with oil prices falling.

Southeast Asia reported foreign outflows and falling currencies on Monday, with the Singapore dollar SGD= hitting its lowest level in more than two months amid market speculation that Singapore's central bank may ease its monetary policy next month

Malaysia posted outflows of 96 million ringgit ($32 million), stock exchange data showed. Indonesia reported $31.8 milion in outflows, with the Philippines seeing $6.4 million in outflows and Vietnam $0.04 million, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index .FTSTI plunged 2.9 percent to 2,743.58. Ng Kian Teck, lead analyst at SIAS Research in Singapore, expects the STI to trade downward for the rest of the week, with support eyed at 2,700 points.