Fresh

With little in the way of fresh fundamental news, natural gastraders were forced to base their decisions on a combination oftechnical factors and their own personal instinct Thursday, as theylifted prices steadily higher throughout the trading session. TheApril contract closed 17.1 cents higher at $5.212, just off its$5.22 high on the day.

With little in the way of fresh fundamental news to go on,natural gas futures traders were forced to trade purely on instinctyesterday, producing another in a string of quiet trading sessionsat Nymex. After matching but failing to surpass Wednesday’s $5.37high, the April contract was left to tumble lower throughout theafternoon. The prompt contract finished on a weak note, off 6.5cents at $5.285.

With little fresh fundamental news for which to go on, tradersin the natural gas pit at Nymex were cautious Thursday and as aresult neither bull nor bear was able to influence prices much ineither direction. Held to an extremely tight, 11-cent range, Marchprices drifted sideways yesterday, closing just four ticks lower at$5.142.

With little in the way of fresh fundamental or technicalimpetuous, natural gas futures were quiet in an abbreviatedpre-holiday trading session Friday, giving traders a moment tofocus on the next price move. Just about dead center of its$5.45-67 trading range, the March contract’s $5.568 close was 2.6cents lower for the session and 64.2 cents lower for the week.

After watching prices lose 9% of their value Monday, natural gastraders cooled their heels yesterday in a session in which neitherbull nor bear was able make its mark. As a result, the Marchcontract began its tenure as prompt month by inauspiciously sagging3.9 cents to close at $6.097.

With little in the way of fresh fundamental or technical news,natural gas futures limped mostly sideways yesterday as bargainbuying stemmed an early test of support. That enabled the Februarycontract to trim losses throughout the afternoon, closing 2.3 centslower on the session at $9.263

With little in the way of fresh fundamental news, natural gasfutures slipped lower in a holiday-abbreviated session last Fridayas traders took profits following a six-day, $2.30-cent pricerally.

For the fourth morning in a row, gas futures spiked higher onlyto come crashing down as long traders liquidated their positions inan effort to avoid margin calls on their positions. Includingyesterday’s margin hike, the exchange has raised margins on fivedifferent occasions in the past three weeks, resulting in anincrease for its customers from $5,670 (on Nov. 17) to $13,500.

With little in the way of fresh news on either the fundamentalor technical front, natural gas futures were left to limp lazilysideways Friday within a fairly tight 14.5-cent range. At theclosing bell, the December contract finished right about in themiddle, narrowly eking out at 1.1-cent gain to finish at $5.456.Activity was light as some traders observed the Veteran’s Dayholiday.