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Seeing little in the way of new fundamental influences and getting only a late nudge downward from the storage report, the cash market generally marked time Thursday. Nearly all points were about a dime or less up or down from flat, with moderate gains in the majority. Upticks of 20 cents or more in quotes for San Juan Basin and Northwest (South of Green River) were the major outliers from the overall market.

Despite calls for profit-taking, natural gas futures continued higher Wednesday as buyers pressed prices to new 19-month highs. For a second session in a row, the buying was reportedly dominated by fund traders who, after being flat for more than a month began to accumulate long positions. The buying was heaviest in the January and February contracts, which gained 7.3 cents and 8.1 cents to close at $4.709 and $4.675, respectively. March lagged slightly with a 5.5-cent gain to $4.539. Meanwhile the interest in the back months was considerably less, leaving the summer 2003 strip with a paltry 1.3-cent gain to average $4.235.

As expected, follow-through buying took natural gas prices higher Tuesday morning as more buyers jumped on the bandwagon following a two-day, 40-cent gain. However, all good things must come to an end and prices tumbled lower Tuesday afternoon amid a round of light profit taking. December finished at $4.261, down 0.2 cents for the day and in the bottom half of its $4.215-335 trading range. Estimated volume was relatively heavy, with 95,767 contracts changing hands.

Surprising more than one trader, the cash market didn’t follow its usual recent pattern of following Tuesday’s screen dive on the following day. Instead, cash was flat to up 50 cents in most cases Wednesday. Most gains were in single digits.

The pattern got broken. For a change cash prices did not follow the previous afternoon’s screen higher, which had been the norm in previous weeks whenever there was a significant change in futures after the morning’s cash deals were complete. Instead, most points were flat to about a dime lower Tuesday.

Duke Energy Corp., which employs close to 500 energy traders and support staff, is expected to follow the route of its fellow energy merchants and cut its trade staff, citing less business. Also as expected, UBS Warburg will cut about 20% of its 600-member trading staff, and may lay off even more employees in the near future.

For the fourth week in a row, the natural gas futures market was unable to eke out much follow-through on the heels of a big move Thursday. However, in sharp contrast to the weeks ending July 26 and Aug. 2, when prices finished on a bearish note, the last two weeks have ended on a decidedly positive note, as traders have resisted the temptation to take profits ahead of the weekend. At $3.149, the September contract ended Friday up 2.2 cents for the day, and 40.4 cents for the week.

Spurred primarily by a fresh surge in futures, the cash market realized large increases again Monday, although most of them were smaller than those on Friday. Gains ranged from about a nickel at a couple of Rockies points to more than 40 cents at the Florida citygate; a majority were between a dime and a quarter.

Wednesday’s cash market was almost a repeat of activity the day before, with flat to mildly higher numbers dominating across the board. Bet on a radical change from that staidness today, though. After AGA announced both a large upward revision of last week’s widely derided 3 Bcf storage injection figure plus a new increase that exceeded nearly all expectations, the screen responded with a dive of more than 30 cents.