The March natural gas futures contract held above $2.000/MMBtu Tuesday and closed higher on its first day as the front month, aided by technical levels and daily production declines.

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The March Nymex gas futures contract rose 2.3 cents to settle at $2.077, after trading as low as $2.046.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 37.5 cents to $2.245, led lower by declines in the Northeast.

The March contract debuted as the front month’s lowest price since April 2023, according to Bloomberg data. But rather than sound the retreat, analysts pointed to technical support around $2.08-2.09 as a possible brake to prices’ slide of more than $1 over the past two weeks.

On Tuesday, there was not much else for bulls to point to besides hope that weather forecasts could turn colder from...