DJI- NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Shares of Apple climbed to another record on Monday, keeping the Nasdaq index afloat in the lowest trading volume of the year, with investors looking ahead to a key speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday.
Apple Inc AAPL.O hit an all-time high of $680.87 during the day after the iPad maker won a $1 billion judgment in a patent lawsuit against Samsung Electronics 005930.KS. The Korean company said it would contest the verdict. Apple, the world's most valuable company, ended up 1.9 percent at $676.68. (Full Story)
The verdict on Friday jolted shares of Google Inc GOOG.O, as the case could change the dynamics of the mobile device market. Companies using Google's Android system may have to consider design changes. Google shares declined 1.4 percent to $669.22.
Beyond the notable moves of those tech giants, investors mostly cooled their heels before Bernanke's remarks to central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday.
Data showed volume was 4.46 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the Amex. The year-to-date average is about 6.6 billion.
Expectations are for Fed action of some kind next month, but Bernanke is likely to keep markets guessing about the timing of another round of bond purchases.
"The big upswing in the equity market that we've seen is based on the belief the Fed is going to do something and that Bernanke is going to say sooner rather than later that he's willing to commit to further easing," said Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist at Subodh Kumar & Associates in Toronto.
"But I don't think he's got the policy support within the Fed to do that, so the markets are set for some more correction here."
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was down 33.30 points, or 0.25 percent, at 13,124.67. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was down 0.69 points, or 0.05 percent, at 1,410.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 3.40 points, or 0.11 percent, at 3,073.19.
NYMEX- NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures fell on Monday, retreating after rising more than $1 as Tropical Storm Isaac shuttered Gulf Coast refineries, curbing crude oil demand, and with expectations that western governments might tap oil reserves also pressuring crude prices.
CBOT SOYBEAN- Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 0.7 percent on profit-taking from contract highs, and ideas that weekend showers in the U.S. Midwest and forecasts for more this week could help late-seeded crops, traders said.
* Weakening cash basis bids at soy processors in the interior Midwest, especially Iowa, added pressure. GRA/M
• The front eight soybean contracts set contract highs, as did most soybean contracts except spot September, before turning lower.
• Tropical Storm Isaac was due to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast between Florida and Louisiana Tuesday night or early Wednesday. Cargill Inc and Archer Daniels Midland Co shut down some of their export elevators in Louisiana as a precaution.
• Barge traffic between Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the U.S. Gulf was suspended due to the threat from Isaac, the Crescent River Port Pilots Association said. (Full Story)
• Argentine growers are set to plant corn and soy under ideal conditions over the next two months thanks to record August rainfall.
• Forward sales of Brazilian soybeans rose to 43 percent of expected 2012/13 output, up from 42 percent the previous week and up from 14 percent a year ago, analyst Celeres said.
• USDA reported export inspections of U.S. soybeans in the latest week at 17.407 million bushels, below trade estimates for 20 million to 24 million, traders said.
FCPO- SINGAPORE, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose to a 6-week high on Monday, as traders continued to bet on tight global edible oil supplies with no sign of the drought easing in the soy-producing U.S. Midwest.
U.S. new-crop soybeans hit a contract high on Monday after farm newsletter Pro Farmer estimated U.S. soybean production would be worse than forecasts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. GRA/
A smaller supply of soybeans to be crushed into soybean oil had widened palm oil's discount to soybean oil to above $250 per tonne, shifting more demand to the cheaper tropical oil.
"There's a lot more upside for crude palm oil prices because so far palm oil has been lagging behind soybean oil," said James Ratnam, an analyst with TA Securities in Malaysia.
"The second thing is that there could be new stimulus measures coming out from China and the U.S. that could boost sentiment."
The benchmark November 2012 contract FCPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 0.7 percent to close at 3,091 ringgit ($994) per tonne after touching an intraday high at 3,122 ringgit, a level last seen since July 17.
Total traded volumes stood at 25,999 lots of 25 tonnes each, just slightly higher than the usual 25,000 lots.
REGIONAL EQUITY- BANGKOK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Shares in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand edged lower after a rangebound session and light trade on Monday, wary of global economic outlook, while lingering concerns over risks in the banking system further depressed Vietnamese stocks.
The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange's VN Index .VNI dropped 3.4 percent to 386.19 points, the lowest close since Jan. 30, led down by financial stocks. It lost 7.8 percent last week but was still up 9.9 percent this year.
The arrest of Asia Commercial Bank's ACB.HN co-founder Nguyen Duc Kien on Aug. 20 and then of chief executive Ly Xuan Hai on Aug. 23 have kept market investors cautious about spreading financial risks.
