Recorded

Trying to capitalize on the momentum of Tuesday’s significant gains, bulls made a run at $8 in natural gas futures Wednesday only to rebuffed. May natural gas recorded a high of $8.010 before settling the day at $7.855, down 1.4 cents from Tuesday’s trading.

Upticks by as much as about 70 cents at a few Rockies locations averted a clean sweep of declines in the cash market Friday. All other points recorded losses in bowing to the dearth of heating load in most areas. A dime-plus fall by January futures a day earlier and the usual weekend slump of industrial demand further weakened cash quotes.

Breaching the upper limits of its recent trading range, December natural gas futures recorded a new high of $8.380 Tuesday afternoon before going off of the board at $8.318, up 32 cents. The Canadian cold air mass over the Midwest and West that is expected to make its way into the East by late in the week also kept other contracts strong. The January natural gas futures contract climbed 20.2 cents on the day to close at $8.559.

A few dollar-plus plunges were recorded as prices took massive drops at virtually every point Friday (the thinly quoted Questar was a market aberration in falling less than a nickel). The cash market was beset on all sides by negative influences: warming trends eliminating much of the heating load that had developed earlier in the week; indications that the lack of storage options coupled with high linepack issues could be coming to a head; further prior-day futures weakness; and the drop of industrial load that is typical of a weekend.

The cash market recorded double-digit declines across the board Friday as the list of negative influences already in effect — moderate to cool weather in nearly every area, prior-day screen softness, splitting-at-the-seams storage inventories and the long-standing absence of a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico — was supplemented by the big reduction of industrial load that affects trading for a weekend.

In Friday’s holiday-shortened trading session, June natural gas saved its best for last on its expiration day. After trading in the high $5.80s and low $5.90s for a majority of the session, the contract recorded new lows for the move in the last 40 minutes of trading before going off the board at $5.925 at 1 p.m. EDT, down a nickel on the day. The close Friday was 3.7 cents below the previous week’s close.

Most points recorded single-digit declines Wednesday, with a few others falling by up to nearly 20 cents. A clean sweep of softening was averted by a few scattered points that ranged from flat to a little more than a dime higher.

Prices at a few scattered locations were flat to slightly lower Tuesday, but most of the cash market recorded gains ranging from a little less than a nickel to a quarter; most were in double digits. The gains were attributed largely to continued demand for storage injections with the traditional injection season still less than two weeks old.

Adding to its 52.4-cent drop on Monday, April natural gas on Tuesday continued to probe lower in search of support. The contract set a high for the day of $6.800 in the morning and recorded a $6.580 low in the afternoon before settling at $6.714, down 7.5 cents on the day.