The cash market maintained Tuesday the generally somber mood that has prevailed since last week’s terrorist attacks, although sources continued to report small progress here and there towards a return to “normal” trading. Bullish factors were in scant supply, so prices softened at virtually all points except at the PG&E citygate.

A clear majority of Tuesday’s declines were in the teens, while the greatest relative strength was seen at points tied to the Northern California market. Not seeing any other positive influences, a marketer said he assumed a small gain by the PG&E citygate was due to the utility recently projecting below-target linepack levels. Although none of Tuesday’s linepack projections by PG&E were “in the red,” they were hovering just above the minimums, the marketer said.

Otherwise, slightly higher temperatures in the Southeast through Texas constituted about the only conditions around for boosting gas load, and they weren’t much, a couple of Gulf Coast traders said. Most regions are experiencing weather more mindful of autumn, which officially begins this weekend, than of late summer. In addition, the Atlantic tropical storm scene has gone somnolent again; futures continued to soften in Nymex’s truncated trading sessions this week; and many expect another large storage injection report approaching 100 Bcf from AGA this afternoon.

“Now that Nymex is functioning again, even at reduced levels, AGA has become once again the anticipated market event for a Wednesday,” a Northeast trader observed. The cash market is still pretty quiet, he added. “There’s nothing really new to say about current conditions; it’s all been said many times over since the attacks.”

A Midcontinent marketer said although everything in his region was softer, he detected “a little strength toward the end,” citing the Chicago citygate as one point seeing late upticks.

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