Palm | Kelapa Sawit

DJI- NEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose for the third straight day on Thursday, sparked by results from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley and as the latest jobless claims dropped to a near four-year low.

The S&P 500 hit a fresh five-month high, with the industrials, consumer discretionary stocks and financials leading gains.

Tech shares advanced ahead of earnings from a number of bellwethers expected after the close.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 45.03 points, or 0.36 percent, to end at 12,623.98. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 6.46 points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,314.50. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> climbed 18.62 points, or 0.67 percent, to close at 2,788.33.

NYMEX-NEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures edged lower on Thursday as continuing weak demand and firm technical resistance countered optimism about the euro zone tackling its debt problems and a report showing falling crude stocks in the United States.

U.S. gasoline demand last week plummeted to the lowest level in more than a decade, government data showed.

U.S. weekly crude stocks fell 3.44 million barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report, against a forecast for a build of 2.8 million barrels.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, February crude fell 20 cents, or 0.2 percent, to settle at $100.39 a barrel, trading from $99.98 to $102.06, falling to that low in post-settlement trading.

CBOT- SOYBEANS, Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade rose more than 1 percent on firmer cash soy markets amid talk of Chinese demand, along with support from a weaker dollar, traders said.

Cash values for soybeans firmed at the U.S. Gulf CIF market as well as in the interior U.S. Midwest, buoyed by a mix of export interest, processor demand and slow farmer selling.

FCPO-SINGAPORE, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures eased on Thursday as prospects of higher stocks and slowing demand of the edible oil offset news that the International Monetary Fund will help to tackle the euro zone
debt crisis.

The IMF move may prevent the euro zone debt crisis from deepening. Concerns of slower economic growth and weaker commodity demand from the over two-year old financial crisis has weighed on palm oil futures that are 0.6 percent down so far
this year.

Investors were focusing on talks of higher-than-expected stock levels, rising production in Malaysia and lacklustre export trend in recent weeks that could depress prices.

Benchmark April palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange fell 0.7 percent to close at 3,157 ringgit ($1017) per tonne. Traded volumes stood at 25,812 lots of 25 tonnes each, just slightly higher than the usual 25,000 lots.

REGIONAL EQUITIES- BANGKOK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Indonesia's stock market hit a four-month high on Thursday after a rating upgrade the day before and most other Southeast Asian markets edged higher after news the International Monetary Fund could provide further help to tackle the euro zone debt crisis.

Late selling left indexes off their highs as investors looked for cash ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays.

In Jakarta, investors bought stock after Moody's upgrade of the country's debt rating to investment grade. That could spur more foreign flows to Indonesia and give Indonesian assets a bigger share in global fund portfolios.

Indonesia's main index could test 4,600 this year, according to Harry Su, head of research at Jakarta-based broker Bahana Securities. That would be way above the intraday record high of 4,195.72 set in August. It closed at 4,001.07 <.JKSE> on
Thursday.

Singapore's Noble Group Ltd rose 3.9 percent, top Thai energy firm PTT Pcl added 1.5 percent and Malaysia's Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd rose 0.6 percent.