RTRS- Indonesia to stop palm, mining firms from using subsidised fuel

JAKARTA, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Indonesia will ban palm oil plantations and mining firms from using subsidised fuel from September 1, an official at the agriculture ministry said on Thursday, in a bid to reduce the strain on the country's budget.

Fuel subsidies have made Indonesia's pump prices the cheapest in Asia and about half the market rate. The state spent about $18 billion on fuel subsidies last year, which is expected to rise to about $20 billion in 2013. (Full Story)

Plans to lift subsidised fuel prices earlier this year triggered violent public protests and pressured parliament to vote against the move. The government is now targeting fuel consumption by businesses as it tries to shrink its budget deficit and free up more money for infrastructure projects.

The government has also stopped its own vehicles from using subsidised fuel.

"The policy on the prohibition of subsidised fuel use by plantation and mining companies will be from September 1," Gamal Nasir, director-general of plantation at the agriculture ministry said.

Firms that may be hurt by the government's fuel move include Wilmar International WLIL.SI, PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources & Technology SMAR.JK, PT Astra Agro Lestari AALI.JK, Aneka Tambang Tbk ANTM.JK and Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc FCX.N.

"As logistic costs represent 14 percent of total production expense, the ban will adversely impact plantation companies if they do not increase their selling prices," Jakarta-based brokerage Bahana Securities said in a report on Thursday.

Benchmark November palm oil futures FCPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange were trading at around 3,005 ringgit ($960) per tonne on Thursday, down about 5 percent so far this year. POI/

Palm oil output from Indonesia, the world's top producer, is expected this year to be between 23 million and 25 million tonnes, compared with 22.5 million in 2011. (Full Story)

India, China and Europe are the main buyers of Indonesian palm oil. Exports totalled 10.13 million tonnes during the first seven months of this year. (Full Story)

Indonesia is one of the world's top metals miners and the fast-growing sector accounts for about 12 percent of gross domestic product in the G20 economy.

It is also the biggest exporter of thermal coal and refined tin, and home to the world's second largest copper mine.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democrat Party has been trying to tackle the issue of costly subsidies in Indonesia -- Southeast Asia's largest economy -- though the parliament earlier this year stymied its plans to lift the price of subsidised fuel.

($1 = 3.1235 Malaysian ringgits)

RTRS- U.S. Cash Grains-Iowa soy bids continue to fall ahead of harvest

Aug 31 (Reuters) - Soybean basis bids continued to weaken in the U.S. Midwest farm belt on Friday on expectations of increased supplies from the harvest that is about to start, dealers said.

• Bids fell as much as 20 cents per bushel in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to 5 cents per bushel over the CBOT November contract; bids were down 45 cents for the week.

• River bids for soybeans in Iowa fell 10 cents per bushel, while prices were down 10 cents in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

• Monday's USDA crop progress report showed that the corn harvest was 6 percent complete, but the cutting of soybeans had yet to begin.

• The remnants of Hurricane Isaac could bring 3 to 6 inches of rain to parts of the Midwest, and dealers were concerned that high winds could topple and damage the corn crop.

RTRS- Isaac rain stalls US crop harvest, some damage done

CHICAGO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Rain and wind from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac are expected to move into the central U.S. Midwest on Friday and into the weekend, stalling crop harvests and causing some localized damage, an agricultural meteorologist said.

Isaac continued to cause headaches, bringing heavy rainfall and the threat of flash flooding to the lower Mississippi Valley as Gulf Coast residents prepared to start their cleanup efforts. (Full Story)

Before Isaac slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast on Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said 6 percent of the country's corn crop had been harvested and 8 percent of the soybean crop was dropping leaves, ready for harvest.

"Certainly it will slow harvest and some of the corn crop could be hurt. The stalks are fragile and brittle," Don Keeney, meteorologist for MDA EarthSat Weather, said.

Corn plants already had been weakened and yields slashed by the stress from the worst drought in America's heartland in more than 50 years. Much of the crop was pushed to maturity and is set to be harvested as it is more vulnerable than normal to harm from wind and rain.

Keeney said 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm) of rain with locally heavier amounts could be expected in a broad swath from eastern Missouri through Illinois, Indiana and into Ohio with winds of 10 to 15 miles per hour (16 to 24 km per hour) and heavier gusts.

Rainfall late on Thursday moved into the rice-harvesting region of Arkansas, the largest U.S. rice producer.

"They had heavy rains of 1 to 3 inches or more in the central and south and that has moved north now. There was some damage but I don't think there were any major catastrophic losses," Keeney said.

Rain from the lumbering hurricane moved across the lush crop region of the U.S. Deep South, known as the Delta, into the central Midwest.

Large soybean, cotton and rice crops are grown in the South, while corn and soybeans are produced in the Midwest.

Before the storm hit, the Louisiana soybean harvest was 18 percent complete, Mississippi's 9 percent and Arkansas' 8 percent, according to U.S. government crop reports.

Arkansas farmers were harvesting at a breakneck pace on Thursday in an attempt to gather as much as possible before the storm blanketed their mature crop.

Crop experts and farmers said the rice heads were heavy and full of grain, leaving the crop vulnerable to harm if it blew over and rendering it difficult or impossible to harvest.

Trader's Highlight

DJI- NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, expressing "grave concern" for the stagnating U.S. job market, said the central bank was prepared to take further steps to strengthen the economy if necessary.

Though Bernanke, speaking in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, dashed some hopes for a signal of quick action, his comments bolstered bets that the central bank was closer to providing more stimulus for an economy that is close to stalling.

Stocks had been flat for much of the week ahead of Bernanke's speech, though expectations of additional stimulus from the Fed helped the market this month. All three indexes posted gains for August.

"I think the debate is how strong growth is and how aggressive the Fed is going to be," said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook Investments LLC, in Lisle, Illinois.

"Hopefully the economy will just get better on its own, but I think the Fed is saying they're going to be there and is trying to tell the market that they have some power to help things along."

Energy and materials shares were among the best performers, with the S&P energy index .GSPE up 0.9 percent and the S&P materials index .GSPM up 1.1 percent.

The Fed's next policy meeting is in mid-September, and many analysts are looking to it for a decision on a third round of quantitative easing.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 90.13 points, or 0.69 percent, at 13,090.84. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was up 7.10 points, or 0.51 percent, at 1,406.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 18.25 points, or 0.60 percent, at 3,066.96.

Even with the advance, each of the major indexes posted a second straight weekly decline. The Dow was down 0.5 percent for the week, while the S&P 500 was down 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq was down 0.1 percent.

For the month, the Dow rose 0.6 percent, the S&P 500 gained 2 percent and the Nasdaq climbed 4.3 percent, its best monthly performance since February.

Volume was light but above the low levels of earlier in week. The four other days this week were among the five lowest for volume all year.

The day's volume traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the Amex, was about 5.3 billion shares. The year-to-date average is about 6.6 billion.

Investors are looking ahead to the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday that is expected to take pressure off highly indebted countries. Comments from ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure rekindled expectations for central bank action.

Among the day's best performing stocks, SAIC Inc SAI.N was up 3.4 percent at $12.21 after the computer contractor reported a drop in second-quarter profit and said it would split its business into two independent public companies.

On the data front, consumer sentiment climbed more than expected to a three-month high, while the Institute for Supply Management-Chicago's index of Midwest business activity fell in August to 53.0 from 53.7 in July.

Advancers outpaced decliners on the NYSE by about 5 to 2 and on the Nasdaq by about 5 to 3.

NYMEX- NEW YORK, NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures rose on Friday and gained more than 9 percent in August, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed stood ready to bolster the economy if necessary, though he did not give any definite signal that more monetary easing was on the way.

CBOT SOYBEAN- Aug 31 (Reuters) - Benchmark November soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 0.4 percent on Friday, halting a three-day rise on profit-taking ahead of a U.S. holiday weekend and softening cash markets, traders said.

• November soybeans SX2 ended the week up 1.4 percent and finished the month up 7 percent, the contract's third straight monthly rise.
• Cash soybean basis bids continued to weaken in the U.S. Midwest on expectations of increased supplies from the harvest that is about to start, dealers said. (Full Story)
• Rain and wind from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac were expected to move into the central U.S. Midwest this weekend, stalling crop harvests and causing some localized damage - meteorologist. (Full Story)
• Traders shrugged off the midday run of a major computerized U.S. forecasting model that called for frost in the northwest portion of the U.S. Midwest on Sept. 15.
• CBOT reported no deliveries of soybeans or soymeal against September futures on first notice day, in line with trade expectations. CBOT said soyoil deliveries totaled 1,676 contracts.
• U.S. markets will be closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday. Electronic trade was scheduled to resume Monday at 7 p.m. CDT (2400 GMT) for trade dated Tuesday.

FCPO- SINGAPORE, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures inched up on Thursday, recovering from a near 2-week low hit the previous day although traders were cautious ahead of a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday.

Investors are looking to the speech for any hint on further U.S. stimulus that could boost sentiment and support demand for risky assets such as palm oil, which has lost around 5 percent so far this year. MKTS/GLOB

The edible oil has posted two straight weeks of gains as the worst drought in over half a century damaged soybean crops in the U.S. Midwest, hurting soybean oil supply and shifting more vegetable oil demand to the cheaper palm oil.

"The rise in palm oil for the past week or two was mainly on borrowed strength from soy, and if soy seems to be running out of steam, palm is going to follow," said a trader with a foreign commodity brokerage in Kuala Lumpur.

At closing, the benchmark November 2012 contract FCPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange gained 0.7 percent to 3,019 ringgit ($967) per tonne. Prices hit 2,978 ringgit on Wednesday, the lowest level since Aug. 17.

Total traded volume stood at 42,592 lots of 25 tonnes each, much higher than the usual 25,000 lots as traders adjusted their positions.

Palm oil may end its current rebound from 2,978 ringgit in a resistance zone of 3,050-3,067 ringgit and drop back to 2,978 ringgit, said Reuters analyst Wang Tao.

On top of bearish technicals, traders are also taking into account prospects of higher palm oil stock levels in August that could weigh on futures prices.

But the market will be looking out for export numbers for the full month as resilient demand could help ease stock growth.

Exports rose as much as 6.6 percent for the first 25 days of August from a month earlier on higher demand from major food buyers India and China, cargo surveyor data showed. PALM/ITSPALM/SGS

Brent crude edged up above $113 barrel on Thursday ahead of a meeting of central bankers later this week that will be scoured for clues on measures to boost global economic growth, while a potential strike by Norwegian oil workers also supported prices. O/R

In other vegetable oil markets, the most active U.S. soyoil contract for December delivery BOZ2 slipped 0.4 percent by 1004 GMT. The most active January 2013 soyoil contract DBYF3 on the Dalian Commodity Exchange closed 1.3 percent higher.

REGIONAL EQUITY- BANGKOK, BANGKOK, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Stocks in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines edged higher in subdued session on Friday, ending August with their first decline in two months as weak exports data kept market investors cautious about the global economic impact on domestic growth.

For the month, Singapore's Straits Times Index .FTSTI fell 0.4 percent, easing after the previous two months' 9.3 percent rise. Jakarta's Composite Index .JKSE lost 2 percent, halting a two-month gain for a combined 7.9 percent.

The Philippine index .PSI was down 2.1 percent in August, against a 4.2 gain in June and July.

Volatile Vietnamese shares fared the worst in the month following last week's arrests of executives of Asia Commercial Bank ACB.HN that have worried investors over risks in the banking system.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange's VN Index .VNI posted a monthly loss of 4.5 percent, its worst since May.