Buoyed

Bulls continued their New Year’s celebration Tuesday at Nymex as the coldest weather of the season buoyed natural gas futures prices to levels only registered on one other occasion in the last 10 months. However, similar to Monday’s price action, the market could not hold onto its early-session highs and prices eased during the afternoon Tuesday.

Buoyed by another in a string of supportive storage reports (151 Bcf withdrawal), natural gas futures turned decisively higher Wednesday as pre-weekend short-covering met virtually no selling resistance.

Buoyed by plummeting mercury levels in the eastern half of the country, the natural gas futures market continued on its meteoric rise Tuesday as speculative traders headed for the exits. However, in contrast to Monday’s session, the price action Tuesday was anything but straight-line, with the market having to work its way back from a midday sell-off.

Buoyed by the coldest air thus far this season, the natural gas futures market turned higher Wednesday as weak shorts covered their positions. Cash prices, which were up nearly 75 cents at some locations, were also seen as a price supportive factor, traders agreed. The December contract received the biggest buying boost, up 17 cents at $4.897. At 59,166, estimated volume was very light considering the size of the price hike.

Buoyed by waves of short-covering, the natural gas futures market turned higher Friday as traders alleviated oversold conditions and took back a portion of last week’s considerable losses.

Buoyed by market psychology and supportive technicals, the natural gas futures market continued higher Tuesday as buyers spent another session quietly consolidating last week’s significant sell-off. The September contract received the biggest buying boost, climbing off its $4.87 afternoon low to rally in the last hour of trading. It finished at $4.964, up 8.1 cents for the session. At 53,447, estimated volume signified another light trading session at Nymex.

Buoyed by forecasts for a warm-up in key eastern areas of the country and in concert with supportive technical factors, natural gas futures were higher Monday morning on a mix of fund short-covering and commercial trader buying. The September contract received the biggest boost, soaring to a new, one-month high of $5.22 just before noon. Afternoon profit-taking trimmed the market’s advance, leaving the prompt month to close at $5.129, up 9.2 cents for the session.

Buoyed mostly by storage demand, modest firmness continued to dominate eastern markets Tuesday, although a few points were flat and only Transco Zone 6 non-New York managed a gain of more than about a dime. Softness reigned in most of the West, which not coincidentally is the only region that was not drawing down storage in the last two Energy Information Administration reports.

Buoyed by sustained strength in exports as well as snap reactions to cold fronts on commodity markets, Canadian forecasters have raised their expectations for 2003 natural gas prices.