Cash prices continued their upward direction Wednesday, but at aslightly slower pace than the prior two days. A fading winterblast in the Northern Plains, combined with forecasts of moderatingtemperatures and a softening Nymex screen, eased the punch of thestrong cash market in late trading, sources said.

Prices in most areas gained close to a nickel on average, whilethe Midcontinent ended up more or less flat to Tuesday’s levels.Northeastern citygates led the upward direction with gains ofalmost a dime.

It was a fairly interesting day,” said a Midcontinent marketer.He said prices in the region started out in the mid-to-upper$2.30s, then got a bit softer. “Cash prices got down from the$2.35-37 range into the $2.25-27 range later in the day. This wasdue in part to the board coming off a little bit and the weatherscenario being a bit different now,” he said.

Sources generally agreed that bearish weather forecasts over thenext couple of days should apply downward pressure on cash prices.”However, since we’re trading so far above index now, I don’t seethis market going down anywhere near those levels,” one sourcesaid.

A Gulf Coast marketer said everyone was waiting to see whathappens with the AGA storage report, which is expected to have abig impact on the market if it reported any injections, or asizable withdrawal. “Some of that impact may already be in theprice, but I think [the market] has got a nickel to move in onedirection or the other.” Following those remarks the latest AGA’sstorage report weighed in with 24 Bcf of withdrawals.

“Despite the reported AGA withdrawal, which is typical for thistime of the year, I still see room for cash prices to go down goinginto the weekend,” commented another trader. “We have to rememberthat while people pulled gas out of the ground, storage levels arestill pretty much full and it really shouldn’t have much of animpact on prices at this time,” he said. “People have enough instorage to handle pretty much any weather that might come down thetube.” The trader added there still is a bearish tone on thescreen, which should keep a cap on cash prices until it getscolder.

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