Palm | Kelapa Sawit

DJI-NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Stocks rebounded to post their best gains in nearly four weeks on Friday, overcoming initial skittishness brought on by a revenue warning from Intel and dour comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Strong buying interest at a key technical level and short-covering sparked the market's comeback, and the tone improved as investors took a more positive view of Bernanke's comments about the economy and the Fed's readiness to act.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 164.84 points, or 1.65 percent, to 10,150.65. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> jumped 17.37 points, or 1.66 percent, to 1,064.59. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> climbed 34.94 points, or 1.65 percent, to 2,153.63.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures ended higher on Friday, gaining for the third consecutive day and ending the week on the plus side for the first time in three weeks, after markets were reassured by comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the central bank was prepared to act if needed to bolster slowing economic growth.

Late session short-covering also lifted prices as traders covered positions ahead of Tropical Storm Earl, which was moving over the Atlantic Ocean and could become a hurricane by Sunday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for October delivery settled up $1.81, or 2.47 percent, at $75.17 a barrel, after trading from $72.04 to $75.21. In post-settlement trading, the day's high was extended to $75.44.

CBOT-CHICAGO, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade grain and soy complex close on Friday.

CBOT-SOYBEANS - September up 9 cents at $10.22 per bushel, November up 11-1/2 at $10.26. Support from reports of low U.S. yields in the early harvest, brisk export demand gains in other vegoils like rapeseed, palm and canola and technical buying.

CBOT-SOYOIL - September up 0.71 cent at 40.20 cents per lb. Support from gains in soy and rallies in EU rapeseed, Malaysian palm and Canadian canola.

FCPO-KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose 0.5 percent on Friday on fears of a possible supply squeeze ahead of a Muslim festival and an upbeat price forecast by a top industry analyst.

Mainly Muslim Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's top palm oil producers, celebrate Eid Al-Fitr in mid-September after a month of fasting, which typically sees estate workers and millers take extended holidays.

The benchmark November crude palm oil contract rose 0.5 percent, or 13 ringgit, to 2,543 ringgit ($810.4) per tonne. Traded volume stood at 12,062 lots of 25 tonnes each.

Comments by Dorab Mistry, Godrej International's head of vegetable oil trading, also supported the market. The influential analyst said palm oil could trade close to 3,000 ringgit in the second half of this year on strong demand.

Still, some traders said demand for the vegetable oil was unpredictable as a few overseas orders have tapered off at current prices.

REGIONAL EQUITIES-BANGKOK, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Wednesday, wary of the weaker U.S. economic outlook, with banks leading Singapore's fall to three-week lows and a softening oil market pushing energy shares down across the region.

The U.S. economic environment kept investors cautious over the pace of recovery in Asia as well as the outlook for exports. Share markets in Malaysia <.KLSE> and Thailand <.SETI> touched their lowest in two weeks and Indonesia <.JKSE> a one-week low.

In Singapore, the benchmark Straits Times Index <.FTSTI> ended down 1.2 percent.

Singapore shares have pulled back around 3 percent from a year-high of 3,043.28 set on Aug. 3 as quarterly earnings and GDP numbers are now mostly out and the market is sizing up the possibility of a global economic relapse.

Malaysia's top power producer Tenaga Nasional eased 0.12 percent, Indonesia's biggest coal miner by market value Adaro Energy fell 1.2 percent and Philippine energy producer Aboitiz Power Corp lost 2.7 percent.