Follow-through on the heels of last Friday’s positive tradingsession prompted some mild short covering which bolstered futuresfor the second Monday in a row. The September contract was thebiggest mover, posting a 6.2 cent gain to settle at 1.895 on theday.

A New York broker pointed to the inability on the part of themarket to break below support on Friday as a reason for the rallyMonday. “Friday’s low at $1.805 along with the $1.81 low reachedMonday August 3, form a double bottom formation which helped fuelthe rally today.”

Another source said the most compelling piece of news inMonday’s market was the open interest figure. “Open interest, whichhas seen a steady rise since the August contract expired, felllower by over 1,000 positions on Friday. That is evidence themarket is starting to whittle away some of its net short positions.Now if that is enough to attract some fresh longs into the marketthen this correction could really take on a life of its own,” hespeculated.

However, a Houston marketer is not convinced by Monday’smovement and feels any move this market is able to make to theupside is “just a great selling opportunity in disguise.”

Support still rests at the aforementioned $1.805-810 level.Resistance is found at the upper-limit of the recent trading rangeat $1.94, a chartist said.

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