“Close, but no cigar” might as well have been the motto for thenatural gas futures market last week. It was a week in whichtraders pushed both May and June contracts to the limits of supportand resistance, only to have prices whip-saw back in their face. Bythe time all the dust had settled and the orders tabulated in thedata room at Nymex, the evidence was irrefutable. Natural gas isonce again stuck in a trading or consolidation range, bounded onone side by previous highs at $3.195 and on the other by a seriesof technical and fundamental hurdles between $2.90 and $3.00. TheMay contract went off the board in rather unspectacular fashionWednesday, settling at $3.089. Buoyed by heavy fund and localbuying Friday, the June contract retraced three straight days oflosses by closing up 8.6 cents at $3.141.
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Late Sell-Off Spoils Bulls’ Day
“Close, but no cigar,” was one trader’s apt description of theprice action yesterday in the natural gas pit at the New YorkMercantile Exchange. A session that saw the prompt month unable tobreak stubborn resistance near $2.40. After an early dip, the Julycontract spent much of the session near its $2.39 high beforeplummeting lower at the close. July finished at $2.343, down 1.5cents.
June 2, 1999
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