Rumble

For the sixth week in a row, natural gas futures climbed higherFriday as traders once again eschewed the short side of the marketahead of the weekend. After setting the tone with a $4.60 openingtrade, bulls ran the show at Nymex Friday, boosting the promptcontract 8.8 cents to close at $4.628.

After trading within a tight, 20-cent range for almost theentire month of March, natural gas futures finally broke throughstubborn resistance just before the closing bell yesterday in alocal and fund led rally. Advancing 7.8 cents to finish at $2.914,the April contract narrowly edged out the 7.6 gain achieved by theMay contract. Estimated volume was moderate with 74,886 contractschanging hands.

After a tumultuous morning rally and retreat, natural gas pickedits way higher yesterday as traders looked past a mixed technicalpicture to focus instead on the possible reemergence of seasonaltemperatures by week’s end. The April contract advanced 2.5 centsto $2.85. However, the real stories were in the out months, whichgalloped higher to post gains of 3.4 cents and 3.5 cents for thesummer and 12-month strips respectively.

As cooling temperatures were giving heat ravaged areas from theUpper Midwest to the Southeast much needed relief, the natural gasfutures market was doing its own cooling off early yesterday asprices dipped to the lowest level since July 23. The move lower wasshort-lived and after opening at $2.50 the August contract wasunable to attract follow-though selling, leaving buyers to bid themarket higher throughout the rest of the day. The prompt monthfinished up 3.2 cents at $2.575.