CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ended
 little changed in quiet trade Friday, scaling back earlier gains on end of the
 day position squaring, traders said. 
  
   November soybeans ended unchanged at $5.64 1/4, December soymeal settled
 $1.30 higher at $168.60 a short ton, while December soyoil ended 38 points
 lower at 23.66 cent a pound. 
  
   The absence of fresh news kept futures in a consolidation mode for most of
 the session, with traders looking ahead to next week's crop production report
 after digesting bearish private crop estimates, said a CBOT commission house
 broker. 
  
   Overall activity was fairly quiet, with underlying chart support providing
 strength while a general market consensus that the U.S. Department of
 Agriculture will make a sizable increase in its crop forecast next week kept a
 lid on upside potential. 
  
   The most-active November futures traded an inside day on technical charts and
 maintained a sideways pattern until traders took a cautious approach heading
 into the weekend - with next week's production report looming, favorable
 weather for a big harvest weekend and concerns over storage and transportation
 problems - and generated trade positioning down the stretch, traders said. 
  
   Meanwhile, analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expect a significant
 upward revision to soybean crop production forecasts in Wednesday's USDA crop
 production report. The average of analysts' forecasts surveyed by Dow Jones
 estimate soybean production at 3.006 billion bushels. Estimates ranged from
 2.916 billion to 3.126 billion. USDA's September projection was 2.856 billion
 bushels. 
  
   The DTN Meteorlogix weather forecast said dry weather will dominate the
 entire Midwest this weekend. This dry weather dominance will allow good harvest
 progress to be made in corn and soybeans. Progress will be slowest in Minnesota
 and eastern North Dakota, where heavy rainfall along with some snow earlier
 this week has saturated the soil, Meteorlogix added. 
  
   In pit trades, ADM Investor Services, Rand Financial and Refco each bought
 200 November. 
  
   On the sell side, Refco sold 400 November, with ADM Investor Services,
 Prudential Financial and RJ O'Brien light sellers. 
  
   South American soybean futures ended lower. The November futures settled 1
 1/2 cents lower at $6.34 1/2. 
  
  
  
   SOY PRODUCTS 
  
  
  
   Soymeal futures ended higher, extending their recovery from recent lows. The
 market benefited from the unwinding of soyoil/soymeal spreads. Light technical
 buying attributed to oversold market conditions added to the firm tone. 
  
   Soyoil futures stumbled to one-week lows in a technically based correction
 from previous highs. A retrenchment in oil share added to the defensive tone,
 with declines accelerating once the most-active December futures penetrated
 underlying support at previous lows and the 100-day moving average, floor
 traders said. 
  
   December oil share slipped to 41.26%, and the November/December crush was at
 67 cents. 
  
   In soymeal trades, scattered buying was reported from various firms.
 Citigroup sold 400 December, and Fimat sold 200 December. 
  
   In soyoil trades, Refco bought 400 December; Bunge Chicago and Man Financial
 each bought 300 December; and ADM Investor Services, Calyon Financial,
 Citigroup and Iowa Grain each bought 200 December. Citigroup sold 400 December,
 Bunge Chicago, Cargill, Calyon Financial, and Man Financial each sold 200
 December.