Follow-through on the heels of Monday’s Nymex strength gave bulltraders an optimistic outlook early yesterday. However, theireuphoria was short-lived when a combination of fund and localselling pushed the market down near stubborn support at $2.205.June trimmed its losses into the close, finishing 6.6 cents lowerat $2.236.

A technical sell-off was responsible for Tuesday’s priceweakness said Ed Kennedy of Miami-based Pioneer Futures. “Localswere seen pressuring the market lower. Below $2.28 there was a hugevacuum. Once that level was broken, it uncovered a vacuum [thatwas] void of buyers. Funds added to the selling pressure, and therout was on,” he said. However, the move lower stalled near recentlows in the low $2.20s, which uncovered light scale up commercialbuying, he continued.

A Gulf Coast trader attributed Tuesday’s meltdown to weakfundamental factors and pointed to nuclear units returning fromplanned maintenance. Despite warming temperatures, prices will beunaffected because nuclear power will supply the bulk of theelectric generation load, he continued.

Looking ahead to today’s release of the American Gas Associationstorage report, sources expect the report to feature a 50-68 Bcfinjection, which if realized will pale in comparison to last year’s100 refill.

©Copyright 1999 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.