After trading within a wide, 58-cent trading range over the past10 trading days, November futures could barely eke out a nickelrange during the regular open-outcry session Tuesday, as traderselected to remain mostly on the sidelines ahead of fresh weatherand storage news expected this afternoon. The prompt month finisheddown 1.6 cents at $5.134 in a session that saw a scant 48,674contracts change hands.

Strength in nearby crude and heating oil markets as well asmodest upticks in physical gas prices were cited as reasons themarket was able to resist the softening many traders anticipatedTuesday.

However, for Tom Saal of Miami-based Pioneer Futures, the cluesto yesterday’s price action lay not in what the market did, butrather what it didn’t do. “Crude was strong and cash prices crawledoff the carpet and what did futures do? Now the market is facedwith another potentially bearish storage report. I expect to see a75 Bcf injection [Wednesday].”

If Saal is right and the market does get an injection in the 70Bcf area today, it will be bearish compared with last year’s 49 Bcfrefill and the 5-year average of 63 Bcf.

From a technical standpoint, traders are watching Novemberclosely, following Monday’s rally. Specifically they are concernedwith the sloping downtrend line drawn on the November daily chartby connecting the $5.565 high from Sept. 26 with subordinate highsnotched on Sept. 27 and on Oct. 5. Tuesday that trendline came inat $5.23. “If we can break above that resistance, you will probablyget some follow-through buying,” admitted Saal.

As of last night that was looking like a possibility as buyingin the after-hours access session drove November futures 6.1 centshigher to $5.195 as of 7:15 P.M. (EDT).

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