Following colder overnight trends in one of the major weather models, natural gas futures extended their recent gains early Thursday as traders awaited the release of updated government inventory data.

The December Nymex contract was up 11.4 cents to $6.314/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.

Futures got off to a slow start in Wednesday’s session before ultimately rallying to settle in positive territory, analysts at ICAP Technical Analysis observed.

“As a result, we have a potential hammer in the daily candlestick chart. So, watching intently to see if the bulls can immediately build on Wednesday’s reversal,” ICAP analyst Brian LaRose told clients. “If they can, we could have a bottom on our hands. If they can not, expect a test of more critical support...