Natural gas futures traded lower on Friday amid concerns about lofty inventory levels and forecasts for cooler weather across much of the Lower 48.

Evening markets

The October Nymex contract settled at $2.269/MMBtu, down 5.4 cents day/day. November fell 5.4 cents to $2.744.

The prompt month is down more than 40 cents from the high reached in late August amid a summer rally. Next day cash prices, meanwhile, remained under pressure, with NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. down 17.5 cents to $1.685.

Forecast data Friday pointed to comfortable temperatures over most of the central United States and in the East for the second half of September, likely minimizing cooling demand.

“It is a low demand time of year, as we have a few more weeks yet until moving” into the heating degree day season,...