US corn futures slid lower on Friday on follow-through selling in the aftermath of bigger-than-expected supply estimates from the US government on Thursday and as fears of a euro zone debt downgrade sent the dollar up 1 percent.
Wheat and soyabean futures were also lower on continued pressure from Thursday's bearish US Department of Agriculture crop report which pegged soya stocks higher than the consensus forecast, put world wheat stocks above expectations and took a conservative view on the impact of drought in Argentina.
"There is some carryover selling from Thursday. The jitters over the EU situation have all the financial markets on their heels, so heading into a long three-day weekend no one is wanting to do too much on the buy side, which means prices are drifting lower," said Dan Basse, analyst with AgResource Co.
Chicago Board of Trade corn for March delivery slipped 0.4 percent to a three-week low of $6.09 per bushel by 10:02 am CDT (1602 GMT) after falling more than 6 percent on Thursday in its steepest slide in 3-1/2 months. Corn had an expanded trading limit of 60 cents on Friday after closing down the regular 40-cent limit on Thursday. March soya fell for a fourth consecutive day, shedding 0.3 percent to $11.79-1/4 a bushel. CBOT March wheat was 0.1 percent lower at $6.04-1/2 a bushel a day after the sharpest decline since late September.