Natural gas futures held on to their recent gains early Friday as traders continued to mull balances, including a demand outlook bolstered by sweltering summer temperatures. 

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

Following Thursday’s 15.4-cent rally off a bullish storage print, the August Nymex contract was trading at $2.759/MMBtu as of around 8:30 a.m. ET, up two-tenths of a cent.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported a 41 Bcf injection into domestic natural gas storage facilities for the week ended July 14. The print landed on the tighter side of survey expectations and trimmed the surplus to the five-year average to 360 Bcf (plus 13.8%).

The latest print was around 1.7 Bcf/d tight versus the prior five-year average when compared to degree days and normal seasonality, Wood...