In a remarkably uniform display of softness, prices fell byabout a nickel Tuesday at nearly every point across the board.Rarely has the market been so consistent with the great majority ofdeclines clustered within the range of 3-7 cents and with nogeographical bias.

The cash softening came even with gas futures modestly higherduring the morning trading period. Perhaps people were paying moreattention to a plunge of nearly a dollar in crude oil futures,leaving the May contract below $25.50/bbl, one source suggested.Heating oil futures also experienced a significant drop.

Prices also shrugged off some cold weather more suggestive ofwinter than spring in major northern and southeastern market areas,largely because a warm-up was expected to begin as early as todayin most regions. “It’s a little raw here in the Northeast today[Tuesday], typical end-of-winter stuff,” said one buyer.

Overall prices tended to weaken as trading proceeded, a marketersaid. A Southwest trader said that was true, but he saw a laterebound in the Permian and San Juan Basins that he attributed to asupply squeeze. The San Juan bounce was surprising, he said,because with the big outages of Transwestern capacity still ineffect, “you’ve got to figure there’s substantial amounts of gas inthe basin looking for a home.”

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