Session

Taking a cue from Wednesday’s Access trading session, thefutures market probed lower yesterday as weak longs and speculatorstook profits away from the price rally earlier this week. TheNovember contract was dealt the largest blow, slipping 13.6 centsto finish at $2.834. December closely followed by tumbling 10.8cents to $3.051.

Following one of the quietest trading sessions in recent memoryThursday, the futures market snapped back to life Friday as tradersetched out a wide, 20-cent range in bumpy, pre-weekend dealings.After trading as low as $2.55 and as high as $2.76 the Novembercontract finished the week strongly, gaining 5 cents to $2.692.Estimated volume of 79,860 confirmed the heavy activity.

Feeding off gains notched during the Wednesday evening Accesssession, the futures market climbed higher yesterday as traderscovered shorts positions created during the recent dip. However,after failing to punch through resistance at $2.70 early, theNovember contract slipped in the afternoon before finishing at$2.642, a 4.1-cent advance on the day.

Natural gas futures chopped sideways for the second straightsession yesterday as traders were torn between shoulder and wintermonth pricing. While the October contract was limited to a tighttrading range and a 0.2-cent advance to $2.632, the Novemberthrough March strip bounded 4.1 cents higher to $2.978. Estimatedvolume was robust with 110,911 contracts changing hands.

Adding to late session advances made in both regular and Accesstrading sessions Tuesday, natural gas futures pressed higheryesterday morning as local traders bid the market to fresh highs.However, once above the $3.10 level, the buying dried up openingthe opportunity for an aggressive sell-off that ushered the promptmonth lower in the afternoon. The September contract slipped 2.9cents to $3.03 after notching a $2.995 low.

The futures market continued higher Wednesday in another quiettrading session where local buying was too much for scale-up tradeselling. But despite its 2.6 cent advance to finish at $2.264, theJuly contract fell short of filling in the chart gap up to Friday’s$2.283 low. Estimated volume was a relatively light 56,980.

After a brief uptick during the Wednesday night Access tradingsession, natural gas futures continued lower yesterday at the NewYork Mercantile Exchange and settled below key support levels. Julyfinished at $2.285, after carving out a $2.27 low early Thursdaymorning. Estimated volume of 95,938 was almost double that ofMonday and Tuesday.

For the third session in a row, natural gas futures see-sawed toeither side of unchanged yesterday as traders eschewed eitherbuying or selling the market outside of its recent trading range.After etching out a $2.34 low Tuesday morning, speculative buyingwas once again seen trying to push the July contract throughresistance at $2.40. But resistance held and the contract sank backto finish at $2.367, a 0.5-cent decline on the day.

The overall market continued to consolidate mostly flatpositions Tuesday in another session of quiet trading and fairlytight price ranges. The little bit of movement tended to beslightly to the downside. Once again traders gleaned little in theway of guidance from a stagnant futures screen or from mild weatherfundamentals. A couple of sources seemed resigned to finishing outthe rest of the week in a sideways market.