Natural gas futures wavered between gains and losses much of Wednesday before clawing out a modest gain as markets mulled positive export data against the prospects of cooler weather, a potentially bearish storage report and fall containment concerns.

Coming off an 18.8-cent drop a day earlier, the October Nymex contract on Wednesday climbed six-tenths of a cent day/day and settled at $2.406/MMBtu. November, however, fell 1.9 cents to $2.873.

Spot gas prices gained ground on recovery in California. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. rose 1.0 cent to $2.015.

The front month rallied early in the day on encouraging U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export news. Feed gas flows at Cheniere’s Sabine Pass export terminal, which had previously been idled by Hurricane Laura in late...