After breaking out of its downward trading channel and reachinga high of $2.24, the June Nymex contract fell back considerablyFriday and settled the day up only 0.8 cents to $2.167. Strongtechnical buying and position covering ahead of the weekend seemedto spearhead the rally, but the door to even higher prices slammedshut not long before the closing bell.

Friday’s late afternoon retracement marks the fourth time withinthe last week and a half that June has failed to climb above$2.265, so that is turning into a pretty stubborn resistance level,an analyst told Daily GPI. “It’s looking more and more like the wayto trade June is to buy dips under $2.15 and sell moves above $2.24or so. I think this thing is going to be bound to range untilbetter fundamentals come in, but it’s very likely thosefundamentals may not hit in time to affect the June contract,” hesaid.

If June manages to drop below major support at $2.11, look for afollow-through move to $2.05, a trader said. However, he predicts”quite a few” buy orders will hit the market before that price, sohe doesn’t expect June to fall too far, if it falls at all. ShouldJune continue higher, the market has resistance at theaforementioned $2.265 level, followed by secondary resistance inthe $2.32-35 area, he said.

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