Late

Taking a cue from Thursday’s Access trade sell-off, the futuresmarket continued lower Friday as traders fully discounted thecurrent trio of storms by aggressively exiting their longpositions. By 2:40 p.m., the September contract had fallen justshort of filling in the chart gap down to $2.805. However, $2.83was all that the sellers could muster and prices rallied in thelast 30 minutes of trading. The September contract settled at$2.912, down 3.6 cents for the day but up more than 8 cents fromits earlier low.

Adding to late session advances made in both regular and Accesstrading sessions Tuesday, natural gas futures pressed higheryesterday morning as local traders bid the market to fresh highs.However, once above the $3.10 level, the buying dried up openingthe opportunity for an aggressive sell-off that ushered the promptmonth lower in the afternoon. The September contract slipped 2.9cents to $3.03 after notching a $2.995 low.

Despite a round of midday profit taking, the natural gas futuresmarket was able to eke out a modest advance amid continued see-sawtrading activity yesterday. The September contract led all othermonths, posting a 1.9-cent gain en route to a $2.727 close.Estimated volume was robust with 86,261 contracts changing hands.

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.

The moderate price slide that defined much of the cash marketsince late last week reached a plateau Tuesday as flat to slightlyhigher pricing dominated reports. The correlation of cash movementwith a tight-ranged screen was very high, sources said. A gradualwarming trend was just starting to be felt in the major marketareas of the Midwest and Northeast, they added, but it was lendingsupport to small price increases at citygates and in the Gulf Coastand Midcontinent regions.

For the second trading session in a row, early selling pressurewas reversed in afternoon trading allowing the market to close nearits daily high. The July contract notched a $2.325 low both Fridayand Monday, but settled back up above $2.37 both days. Evenestimated volume figures were similar with yesterday’s 43,630falling just short of Friday’s 45,070 mark.

It was a tale of two markets Friday at the New York MercantileExchange. Softer cash market prices helped push futures priceslower early in the trading session. Those losses, however, werequickly erased in the afternoon as traders weighed the impact offorecasts calling for warming temperatures this week. The Julycontract finished at $2.437, 4 cents higher for the day and 7.9cents for the week.

“Close, but no cigar,” was one trader’s apt description of theprice action yesterday in the natural gas pit at the New YorkMercantile Exchange. A session that saw the prompt month unable tobreak stubborn resistance near $2.40. After an early dip, the Julycontract spent much of the session near its $2.39 high beforeplummeting lower at the close. July finished at $2.343, down 1.5cents.

Much like Charismatic, winner of the Preakness and the KentuckyDerby,the futures market was off to the races Monday. Afteropening slightly more than a penny below Friday’s settlement price,the futures market spiked dramatically higher in the first hour oftrading as local buying pushed the market through last week’s$2.315 high. June continued higher yesterday afternoon, finishingup 5.5 cents to $2.343.