Although it was nowhere near as dramatic as the price move thatdeposited prices near all-time winter lows, last week’s futuresgains-slowly and steadily-were gaining the attention and acceptancefrom both technical and fundamental traders. And despite a largestorage surplus and continued uncertainty about winter weather, ifprices are able to trend higher into the New Year, the market willlook back at last week’s rebound as the end of the downtrend. Theprompt January contract chopped higher Friday, making daily highsby noon before softening into the closing to finish up a penny at$2.074.

And while some people felt traders would try to fill in thechart gap up to $2.19 Friday, an analyst noted the trend is stilldown. “Despite the strength exhibited by the market this week, wehave not broken out of the downtrend, which has harnessed gasprices since this summer. There were people eager to sell thismarket [Friday], but held off because they did not want to initiatefresh shorts ahead of the weekend. Unless there is a revision ofthe weather forecast like there was [last] week, prices should turnlower Monday.”

In daily technicals, January has support at $1.90. Resistancestands at $2.12 and 2.19 to thwart a possible move higher, atechnician said. January expires Tuesday, Dec. 29.

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