Limped

September futures limped to a weak expiration Monday as traders factored in natural gas’ strong seasonality and tendency to reach a low at this time of the year. At the close September had fallen 7.4 cents to $3.857 and October skidded 8.2 cents to $3.830. October crude oil added $1.90 to $87.27/bbl.

September natural gas futures limped lower in dull trading Friday as analysts suggested that the market was not showing signs that it was capable of advancing further. At the close September natural gas had eased 4.8 cents to $4.060 and October had slid 5.6 cents to $4.071. September crude oil dropped 34 cents to $85.38/bbl.

August natural gas futures limped to a weak expiration as traders watched petroleum futures reel under a burdensome inventory report and acknowledged that Thursday’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) inventory report was likely to show additions greater than historical averages.

August natural gas futures limped higher for a third straight regular session on Tuesday as traders were having a hard time pinpointing a reason for a serious move in either direction. The front-month contract added 1.6 cents to close at $3.705.

After a briefly checking below support at $4.00 and then back up into the low $4.10s, natural gas futures limped lazily sideways for much of the session Thursday as trade buying met almost equally with fund and local selling. At the closing bell the July contract was 7.4 cents lower for the session at $4.038. Estimated volume was relatively light, with only 67,994 contracts changing hands.

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

Without much in the way of fresh fundamental news, natural gasfutures limped lazily lower during the regular open-outcry sessionyesterday after an early foray to the $7.85 level failed to attractadditional buying. With that, the January contract notched itsthird down-day in a row, closing 12.4 cents lower at $7.413.Estimated volume of just 51,593 was evidence of a price move thatlacked conviction, traders observed.

With little in the way of fresh news, natural gas futures limpedmostly sideways yesterday as cautious summer bulls matched upnearly perfectly with March bears. In fact, the only notablefeature in Thursday’s session was a rash of market-on-close buying,which firmed prices at the end. The March contract advanced 1.9cents to finish at $2.549 on its penultimate trading day.