CHICAGO: Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade plunged 3.4 percent on Friday, their biggest daily slide in 7-1/2 months, on long liquidation and risk aversion amid concerns about the health of the global economy, traders said.

* Benchmark July soybeans broke below its 40-day moving average, erasing strong gains notched a day earlier after a bullish government forecast for US soy ending stocks.

* For the week, CBOT soybeans unofficially fell 4.8 percent, the second straight weekly drop and the biggest since late November.

* Commodity sector under pressure as Greece appeared unable to form a government and Chinese data came in unexpectedly weak, fuelling fears of a global economic slowdown.

* Markets also rattled by an unexpected $2 billion trading loss at Wall Street giant JP Morgan, which pushed jittery investors away from risky assets.

* Funds held a record-large net long position in CBOT soybeans in the latest CFTC reporting week, leaving the market open to bouts of long liquidation.

* Favorable US crop weather lent pressure, supporting prospects for large US crops.

* USDA confirmed sales of 139,500 tonnes of US soybeans to unknown destinations for 2011/12 delivery.

* Workers at one of Argentina's biggest grains ports lifted a strike and agreed to respect a Labor Ministry order for talks to resolve the pay dispute, union and industry sources said.

* Ahead of NOPA's April US soy crush data due out Monday, the average analyst estimate was 134.8 million bushels, compared with NOPA's March figure of 140.534 million bu. Analyst estimates for April ranged from 128.5 million to 144 million bushels.