The futures market continued higher Wednesday in another quiettrading session where local buying was too much for scale-up tradeselling. But despite its 2.6 cent advance to finish at $2.264, theJuly contract fell short of filling in the chart gap up to Friday’s$2.283 low. Estimated volume was a relatively light 56,980.

A Houston-based marketer cited warming temperatures across muchof the central and eastern U.S. as a reason for the price advance.In its latest six- to 10-day forecast, the National Weather Service(NWS) looks for above-normal temperatures to cover a huge swath ofthe North from New England to the eastern Plains. Above-normalreadings are also expected for most of New Mexico and the westernhalf of Texas.

Ed Kennedy admits that revised weather forecasts didn’t hurt theprice strength, but adds that short-covering ahead of the weeklysupply data from the American Gas Association (AGA) was also afactor. As it turns out, preliminary estimates calling for 80-90Bcf of injections last week bracketed perfectly the actual 85 Bcffigure released by the AGA last night. That figure also fell neatlyin line with last year’s 82 Bcf build.

What would it take to put the bulls back at the helm? A moveabove $2.30 insists Kennedy. However, he doesn’t believe that is alikely scenario in the near future and thinks prices aresusceptible to another move lower.

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