Natural gas futures hovered close to even in early trading Friday as the market continued to mull spring-time balances following a lighter-than-expected withdrawal in the latest weekly storage data.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

The May Nymex contract was up 1.1 cents to $2.114/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported a 47 Bcf withdrawal from U.S. natural gas storage facilities during the week ending March 24. The pull came in on the lighter side of pre-report expectations. Still, it was tighter than the five-year average 17 Bcf withdrawal.

“Compared to degree days and normal seasonality, this week’s reported withdrawal is the loosest we have seen since Feb. 9,” Wood Mackenzie analyst Eric McGuire said in a note to clients Friday. “Despite...