The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said natural gas inventories for the week ending Aug. 19 rose by 60 Bcf, right on target with estimates ahead of the report.

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Natural gas futures traders didn’t quite know how to act with no surprises in the latest EIA data, with prices waffling within a few cents of Wednesday’s settlement before and after the report. The September Nymex futures contract was trading around $9.350/MMBtu just ahead of the EIA’s 10:30 a.m. ET report, then slipped to $9.335 as the print crossed trading desks. By 11 a.m., the prompt month was back at $9.367, up 3.7 cents from Wednesday’s close.

“This was the cleanest number in some time,” said Enelyst managing director Het Shah.

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