Greased

Greased by a higher opening, the natural gas futures market worked its way efficiently higher Friday as modest, but steady local and speculative short-covering promoted prices to their highest close in nine months. In addition to the chilly weather forecasts for the middle and end of the month, the market was rocked again Friday by the third increase in Nymex margin requirements in the last week. The January contract exploded 60.6 cents higher Friday to finish the week at $7.221.