After a bit of choppy trading, natural gas futures closed out the week on stronger footing after an earlier slide into the red. The September Nymex gas futures contract settled Friday at $2.448, up 9.6 cents on the day. October moved up 7.0 cents to $2.573.

Evening markets

Spot gas prices were mostly lower despite warmer weather set to move into the eastern United States by Monday. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 9.5 cents to $2.070.

After an eventful week in which prices rallied early and then gave up some ground following a bearish storage report, traders had several things work in their favor on Friday. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand, which has gradually increased over the past couple of weeks, moved past the 5 Bcf/d mark on Friday.

“What could matter more is weekend LNG feed...