Friday was a day of tests at the New York Mercantile Exchange.The market pushed lower on the open to test support at $1.81 onlyto rebound in the hopes of knocking out resistance at $1.875.However, both attempts failed and the September contract was leftto close at $1.833, almost unchanged for the day.
Bears
Articles from Bears
Downtrend Dominates Futures; August Slips Back Below $2
For the fifth Monday in a row the bears were dominant in the pitat Nymex as trade and speculative selling pushed natural gas down,effectively erasing gains registered on Friday. Most of the day’smovement happened on the open, leaving the August contract to tradein the mid $1.90s for the rest of the day before closing at $1.965,down 6.6 cents.
Storage Refill Sends Futures Lower
After taking Tuesday’s small gain in stride, the bears were atit again yesterday pushing the August contract to test the bottomof a descending channel that has limited movement in the contractsince July 1. However, support held and light buying ensued pushingthe contract up to close at $2.231, down 3.5 cents for the day.
Prices Slide Into Weekend; Western Dive Steepest
Bears roamed the gas price forest with impunity Friday, sendingall markets down at least a nickel or so and causing severalWestern points to crater. Continued steamy weather in the Southeastand Midcontinent was no match for relatively mild conditions in themajor market areas of the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast. Andthe screen’s drop of about 4 cents didn’t lend any support.