Closing

Natural gas futures bears took the day off as the April contract traded in a slim dime range before closing out the regular session at $4.708, up 2.9 cents from Monday’s finish. However, with the winter finishing up its long run, traders don’t see too many technical or fundamental factors standing in the way of further declines.

Natural gas futures continued to knock on the $6 door on Friday as the January contract put in a high of $5.926 in early morning trade. The prompt-month contract ended up closing the day’s regular session at $5.782, up 1.4 cents from Thursday and 61.9 cents higher than the previous week’s close. Over the last two weeks the January contract has gained $1.196.

November natural gas futures on Tuesday dismissed resistance at $5 without so much as a glance as the contract reached a high of $5.195 before closing out the regular session at $5.161, up 32.6 cents from Monday’s regular session finish. The last time a front-month contract traded higher was back on Jan. 14 when the February contract reached $5.235.

Natural gas futures on Monday geared up for another run at psychological resistance at $5 as the November contract recorded a high on the day of $4.916 before closing at $4.835, up 5.4 cents from Friday’s regular session close.

Resistance at $5 held up once again on Tuesday as November natural gas futures reached a high of $4.959 before retreating. The front-month contract reached a low of $4.513 before closing the day’s regular session at $4.588, down 29.2 cents from Monday’s finish.

Proving the natural gas market’s current level of indecision, July natural gas futures traded a tight range on Tuesday before closing unchanged from Monday’s finish. The contract put in its $3.656 to $3.768 range in the first hour of the regular session, then wandered aimlessly before finishing at $3.731.

Guided by financial and commodity market weakness and the lack of any supportive news, May natural gas futures on Tuesday dropped to a new low for the down move before closing out the regular session at $3.562, down 17 cents from Monday’s finish. The last time a front-month contract settled lower was more than six-and-a-half years ago on Sept. 25, 2002.

Williams is moving into the Marcellus Shale play in a midstream joint venture (JV) with Atlas Pipeline Partners LP. Under the JV, Williams plans to help Atlas trim its debt in exchange for a 51% piece of the pipeline’s existing Appalachian Basin gathering system, which includes 1,800 miles of intrastate gathering lines serving 6,900 wells.

Natural gas futures traders continued their rudderless approach to trading on Wednesday as the February contract bounced between $5.978 and $5.784 before closing the day’s regular session in the middle at $5.872, down 11.1 cents from Tuesday’s close. Traction for a price move in either direction remained unavailable as fundamentals ranged from the recent bullish cold in the East to bearish natural gas storage withdrawal expectations for the week ended Jan. 2.