Regain

After stumbling last heating season Canadian natural-gas exports show signs of getting back on their feet, but when they will resume growing — or even whether they can — remains an open question. For the first time since the onset of energy deregulation and free trade, exports fell in the opening half of the current natural-gas contract year ending Oct. 31, according to records of the National Energy Board.

Buoyed by private forecasts that cast doubt on governmentforecasts calling for a warm up, along with several constructivetechnical features, natural gas futures erupted higher yesterdaymorning as weak shorts exited their newly acquired positions. TheFebruary contract finished 77.7 cents higher on the day at $8.966after reaching a high at $9.189.

Dallas Cowboy fans are not alone. It has been a tough month ofSundays for natural gas bear traders as they have been forced towatch Friday’s downward price momentum gradually lose steam duringSunday evening Access trading, setting the stage for a pricerecovery when the regular open-outcry session re-opens Monday.

Fueled by follow-through selling on the heels of Wednesday’slate-day sell-off, natural gas futures dropped lower yesterdaymorning only to rebound slightly in the afternoon. A uniform1.9-cent loss was seen in each of the four front months, led by theJune contract, which finished at $3.107.

Rebounding from Thursday’s heavily predicted, albeit modestsell-off, natural gas futures turned higher Friday as tradersjumped at the opportunity to increase their length while the marketwas trading off fresh highs. After opening lower and quicklymatching Thursday’s $2.75 low, the April contract rumbled 4.2 centshigher to close at $2.825, just below its $2.83 high for the dayand only pennies less than the $2.865 life-of-contract high put inThursday. Estimated volume was solid, with 53,424 contractschanging hands.

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.