futures

Natural gas futures surged again yesterday amid concerns thatproduction shortfalls associated with a sudden barrage of tropicalstorm and hurricane activity will put pressure on an already tightsupply-demand situation. Fresh off a 28-cent price run late lastweek, the September contract tacked on an additional 12.6 centsyesterday to finish at $3.064 after notching a fresh high at $3.08.Estimated volume was healthy, with 101,460 contracts changinghands.

Propelled by a tropical depression swirling in the Bay ofCampeche and concerns of yet another bullish storage report,natural gas futures spiraled higher yesterday as traders coveredshort positions. That buying interest pushed the September contractto $2.805 — the highest mark for a spot month contract sinceDecember of 1997 — before settling at $2.792 for the session.

The natural gas futures market made it a ‘perfect ten’ yesterdayby trading within a tight 14-cent range for the tenth consecutivetrading session. The August contract showed promise early, racingout to a strong start and posting a $2.239 high. That, however,would be the best the market could do Tuesday. It then wilted underselling pressure in the afternoon. The prompt month finished at$2.198, down 0.9 on the day.

Following the lead established late Monday, natural gas futurescontinued higher yesterday day as short-term traders bought intothe rally. The August contract closed up 3.2 cents at $2.176,shortly after notching its $2.18 high trade for the day.

Long liquidation, that began with local selling Wednesdayafternoon, continued yesterday at the New York Mercantile Exchangeas traders sided with bearish supply figures and ignored bullishdemand predictions. The August contract tumbled 8.5 cents to $2.309and September matched that by dropping 8.6 cents to finish at$2.333.

The futures market continued higher Wednesday in another quiettrading session where local buying was too much for scale-up tradeselling. But despite its 2.6 cent advance to finish at $2.264, theJuly contract fell short of filling in the chart gap up to Friday’s$2.283 low. Estimated volume was a relatively light 56,980.

Amid a swirl of pre-AGA storage speculation, the futures marketcontinued lower Wednesday, touching its lowest level so far thismonth. After a lower opening, the July contract quickly mapped outits high trade of the day at $2.36, before slipping 4 cents tofinish at $2.327. Estimated volume of 65,584 injected some lifeinto the market, following sub-45,000 trading sessions Monday andTuesday.

Fresh news means everything in commodities trading and naturalgas traders had their choice of bearish factors to point toyesterday. The one-two combo of the storage surplus and coolerweather put sellers in the driver’s seat once again, and theyreacted swiftly Wednesday evening by pushing the market lower inthe after hours Access trading session. The July contract Thursday,tumbled 10.5 cents to finish at $2.355 in heavy trading.

Warm temperatures in major eastern cities and apprehension aboutthe possibility of “another bullish storage report” gave bulls thereason to buoy the market higher yesterday, and they did notsquander the opportunity. Buying, led mainly by commercial traders,sent the July contract up to a retest of its previous open outcrysession high of $2.41 before settling at $2.407. Estimated volumewas 73,884.