Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean futures slid sharply on technical trading on Friday, as investors rushed to liquidate their positions ahead of the weekend, traders said.

“It’s a fragile market and the end of a poor technical trading week,” said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based U.S. Commodities. “The market is looking to see if we can set a new floor.”

Poor harvest prospects in the U.S. Plains initially gave wheat futures a boost: Wheat yield potential in Kansas was estimated on Thursday at its lowest since at least 2000 in an annual field tour.

But corn and wheat futures also ended the day on a down note, with July hard red winter wheat KWN3 at one point touching down to the lowest price seen since May 5.

“We’ve seen some of the weak short positions get flushed out of the market, but no one is stepping in to buy on the rallies,” said Karl Setzer, brokerage research lead with Mid-Co Commodities.

CBOT’s most-active soybeans Sv1 settled 26 cents lower at $13.07-1/4 per bushel. The most-active corn Cv1 settled down 3/4-cent at $5.54-1/2 a bushel, while CBOT wheat Wv1 settled down 6-3/4 cents to $6.05 a bushel.

Source: Reuters