Propelled

Propelled by heavy market-on-close (MOC) buying, natural gasfutures spiked to a new all-time high yesterday, as commercialtraders hedged their financial swap positions. After gapping higheron the open, the January contract rallied to $9.90 on rumors thatthere would be commercial buying at the close. Those rumors turnedout to be true and after sinking lower for much of the session, theprompt month raced back to $9.90 moments before the closing bell.January finished at $9.83, up 50.4 cents on the day.

Propelled by follow-through buying on the heels Wednesday’sbullish storage report, natural gas futures shuffled higheryesterday, as traders looked past the expiring August contract tofocus on the out months.

After reaching a new life-of-the-contract high on Monday,follow-through technical buying propelled the April gas futurescontract sharply higher again yesterday. April ended the regulartrading session up 7.5 cents at $2.761 after reaching a high of$2.770. The low for the day was 10 cents down from that at $2.660.May climbed 7.6 cents to $2.771 and the summer strip (Apr.-Oct.)ended the day very strong at $2.786, up 6.5 cents for the session.

Propelled by a technical boost following Monday’s 23-centdecline, the natural gas futures market rallied during the firsthour of trading Tuesday as traders took profits on newlyestablished short positions. But after peaking at $2.31 momentsafter 11 A.M. EST, the December contract once again fell victim tothe same negative weather pattern that has weighed on prices theentire month. That downward momentum quickly took back the earlieradvances, depositing December to $2.189, down 0.8 cents for theday.

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.

After a spirited rally Tuesday that propelled the Augustcontract to its highest level since July 15, the market took abreather Wednesday as traders elected to wait on the sidelinesahead of fresh fundamental news. The prompt month finished down 0.6cents at $2.394 in choppy, range-bound trading.