Feeding off momentum gained in both the regular and accesstrading sessions Wednesday, the futures market muscled higheryesterday as the May contract notched its highest price since lastNovember. After gapping higher to open at $2.215, May traded mostlysideways Thursday morning before an early afternoon buying surgemapped out yesterday’s high price at $2.23. The contract finishedjust off that level at $2.225, a 5.1-cent advance on the day.

Sources agreed that a smaller than expected storage figurereleased by the American Gas Association Wednesday night was theimpetus needed to propel the market above its recent trading range.Prior to yesterday the May contract was locked between the $2.075and $2.19 for 7 trading sessions.

However, a Gulf Coast trader thinks strong pricing in the Aprilcash market has been silently supporting the May futures price.”Lately, there seems to be someone willing to bid the Henry Hub apenny above the Nymex print. In a forward injection market, thereis no reason for spot cash prices to be at a premium to the futuresand so May has been playing catch up.” NGI’s Daily average for theHenry Hub was today was $2.25. He continued, noting that whereasmost Gulf trading points trended lower in late morning business,the Henry Hub moved higher. “Looks as if someone is buying physicaland sticking it in the ground in the hopes it will buoy the futuresmarket,” he speculated.

Now that prices have entered a new trading range, how muchhigher will they go? As always opinions are mixed, but the marketwill receive some potentially telling data this afternoon when thebi-weekly Commitments of Traders report is released. The lastreport with data as of April 6, showed that non-commercial traderswere net long over 15,000 positions. But a Houston trader thinksthat figure has swollen to around 36,000 since then, which wouldhelp to explain the simultaneous rise in prices. The May futuresclose on April 6 was $2.013, more than 20 cents below currentlevels.

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