Trader's Highlight

DOW JONES-NEW YORK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks dropped on Friday, snapping a four-day winning streak, after news reports that Standard & Poor's would downgrade credit ratings on several euro-zone countries.

The ratings agency was reportedly set to downgrade euro-zone countries, including France and Austria, but leave the ratings of Germany and the Netherlands unchanged. French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said the country has been notified of a one-notch cut.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 48.96 points, or 0.39 percent, to 12,422.06 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> lost 6.41points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,289.09. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> fell 14.03 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,710.67.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures fell for the third straight day on Friday on anticipation that Standard & Poor's would downgrade credit ratings of several euro zone countries, stoking fears deeper economic troubles for the region.

Losses were curbed by short-covering ahead of the long holiday weekend with traders worried over potential supply disruptions in Nigeria and Iran.

Late in the afternoon, S&P issued its announcement of the downgrades. In post-settlement trading, NYMEX crude futures had slim gains, but at the end of electronic trading, crude futures were back to negative territory.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, February crude settled at $98.70 a barrel, dropping 40 cents, or 0.40 percent. In post-settlement trading, it last traded at $99.03, down 7 cents.

CBOT-SOYBEANS,Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell for a fourth straight session, pressured by a stronger U.S. dollar and forecasts for more rain in South American crop areas, traders said.

Follow-through selling one day after the USDA released bearish data on U.S. soybean ending stocks also weighed on the
market.

CBOT soybeans ended down about 2.6 percent for the week, the second straight weekly decline.

FCPO-SINGAPORE, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures slipped on Friday as a much-anticipated U.S. crop report showed a higher-than-expected forecast of oilseed supplies, temporarily overshadowing prospects of lower production due to erratic weather.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture January crop report painted a rosier picture for global supplies on Thursday, while the Malaysian Palm Oil Board said this week that December stock levels were higher than expected.

Benchmark March palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 1.6 percent to close at 3,151 ringgit ($1,007) per tonne. Prices earlier touched an intraday low of 3,143 ringgit, a level last seen on Dec. 29. Traded volumes stood at 30,727 lots of 25 tonnes each,higher than the usual 25,000 lots for the first time in the week.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Selective buying in commodities-related shares on the back of high oil prices helped lift some southeast Asian stock markets on Friday.

Positive comments on Europe's outlook, and stabilisation in European bond markets, also provided support as the region gained on the week, led by a 5.2 percent rise in Vietnam <.VNI>.

Strong demand at Spanish and Italian debt auctions helped tO offset lacklustre economic data from the United States, where retail sales rose in December at their weakest pace in seven months.

Singapore's Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> climbed 1.8 percent, Jakarta's Composite Index <.JKSE> edged up 0.7 percent and Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange index rose 1.8 percent.

Stocks in Malaysia <.KLSE>, Thailand <.SETI> and the Philippines <.PSI> erased early gains to finish down 0.2 percent, 0.71 percent, and 0.74 percent respectively.

Singapore's Golden Agri Resources Ltd rose 2.78 percent after a combined 2.7 percent drop in the previous two sessions, and Indonesia's PT Bumi Resources Tbk rose 2 percent.