As with every other non-expiration day at Nymex, Thursday’s daily natural gas settlement prices were calculated using a weighted average of the final two minutes of trading. What sets Thursday apart from every other day in the commodity’s 13-year history is that this decisive two-minute trading window took place from 11:28 to 11:30 a.m. EST.

In a trading session that will not soon be forgotten by broker, trader, nor market-watching journalist, futures trading at the Nymex closed three hours early at 11:30 a.m. EST due to difficulties related to a software upgrade. The March contract settled the abbreviated session at $5.235, down 12.1 cents for the session.

After a 45-minute trading halt, Nymex reopened for a special “post-close” session Thursday from 12:15 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. According to brokers, this “post-close” session occurs daily at the exchange as a way to reconcile trades where there was a miscommunication between floor brokers during the regular open-outcry session. Because these “out-trades” are typically minimal and rectified quickly, it was suggested that the long duration of Thursday’s post-close session was an effort by the exchange to allow traders and customers an opportunity to finish up business they had not taken care during the morning hours.

Also likely playing into consideration by the exchange, sources speculated, was the fact that Thursday was the penultimate trading session for the March crude contract, which is set to expire Friday afternoon. March natural gas, meanwhile, does not expire until next Wednesday. No significant price movement was seen in either commodity during the 30-minute post-close session.

Brokers close to the situation indicated that at the heart of the Nymex’s software glitch were problems with the clearing of certain trades. “I have not had any customers affected, but I know of [other brokers] that have had trades go missing,” a source told NGI.

While not saying that they had corrected the problem, the Nymex last night announced plans to open markets at their regular scheduled times Friday. At the same time, it also urged all floor personnel to arrive at work by 8:00 a.m. “for administrative reasons.” Overnight Access trading last night appeared to be progressing smoothly, with the March contract leaning to the upside with a 0.4-cent gain at $5.239 at 6:30 p.m. EST.

The on again, off again nature at Nymex gave traders little opportunity to react to the latest storage data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). At 10:30 a.m. EST the EIA announced that 172 Bcf was pulled from storage last week, dropping supplies to 1,431 Bcf as of February 13. At first glance the number was neutral to bullish as it fell in the top half of the 150-178 Bcf range of expectations. However, versus historical withdrawal comparisons of 203 Bcf a year ago and a five-year average of 114 Bcf, the 172 Bcf draw was open to either bullish or bearish interpretation.

On balance, however, it appears that bears have claimed the storage data as a victory for the simple rationale that it is unlikely the market will be able to repeat large draws suffered in February a year ago. Because of that, the surplus to last year — currently at 263 Bcf — will likely increase, dampening fears that the market will experience another late winter price spike. Also of note is that the draw fell notably short of the prior two withdrawal figures of 236 Bcf and 224 Bcf.

After having vaulted as high as $5.36 in the 30 minutes before the report was released, the March contract dropped back to the low $5.20s on the storage news.

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