Natural gas futures faltered for a fourth-consecutive day to end the week, with weakened weather demand expectations and lower U.S. export levels overshadowing a government inventory report that showed the steepest withdrawal of the season.

storage Jan. 22

The February Nymex gas futures contract settled at $2.446, down 4.5 cents day/day. March shed 4.1 cents to $2.456.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg., meanwhile, posted its first gain of the week, advancing 9.0 cents to $2.640.

After the Global Forecast System (GFS) backed off of cold expectations earlier in the week, the European model followed suit overnight Thursday, disappointing markets.

The outlook “is now quite bearish” for the week ahead, NatGasWeather said. The firm noted that forecasts earlier in the month had called for...