Palm | Kelapa Sawit

DJI-NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended flat on Thursday, dropping off earlier highs as a weak U.S. bond auction and global debt concerns continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

Indexes advanced for most of the session, with the Dow and S&P hitting fresh 18 month highs, but their gains mostly disappeared after the auction of seven-year notes and comments from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet on issues surrounding Greece's sovereign debt.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 5.06 points, or 0.05 percent, to end at 10,841.21. But the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 1.99 points, or 0.17 percent, at 1,165.73. And the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 1.35 points, or 0.06 percent, at 2,397.41.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures slid narrowly lower on Thursday, as the euro skidded late in the session against the dollar, encouraging selling in energy futures.

Gasoline and heating oil futures also fell back with crude in choppy trading, ending slightly lower.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, May crude settled down 8 cents, or 0.1 percent, at $80.53 a barrel, trading from $80.20 to $81.40.

CBOT-CHICAGO, March 25 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade grains and soy complex close on Thursday.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - May down 17-1/2 cents at $9.42-1/2 per bushel. Turned lower in sympathy with corn and wheat; lack of follow-through on early rally. Export sales disappoint. May broke support at 50-day moving average of $9.53, touching of sell-stops and driving the contract below all key averages by the close.

CBOT-SOYOIL - May down 0.38 cent at 38.70 cents per lb. Following soybeans lower. USDA reported export sales of U.S. soyoil last week at 13,800 tonnes, within estimates for 5,000 to 15,000 tonnes.

FCPO-JAKARTA, March 25 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures closed higher on Thursday on firm crude oil and expectations that good exports would help reduce palm oil stock in the country.

The benchmark June crude palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange closed up 15 ringgit or 0.59 percent at 2,575 per tonne. Overall trade volume was 10,656 lots of 25 tonnes each.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, March 25 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets posted small gains on Thursday as investors bought banks, expecting their earnings to recover along with the economy, but a downgrade of Portugal's sovereign rating made for cautious trade.

Markets finished off the day's highs in a volatile session, with Singapore <.FTSTI> up 0.07 percent, Malaysia <.KLSE> adding 0.23 percent, Indonesia <.JKSE> 0.88 percent higher and the Philippines <.PSI> up 0.14 percent.

In Kuala Lumpur, financial firm CIMB Group rose 1.6 percent and AMMB Holding gained 0.6 percent. In Bangkok, Kasikornbank rose 1.3 percent and Krung Thai Bank was up 0.9 percent.

In Singapore, United Overseas Bank was up 0.2 percent, erasing some of its early gain, while DBS Group and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp ended in negative territory after rising earlier.