Sessions

Just as it has done in six of its prior seven trading sessions, the November natural gas futures contract rebounded off a low in the $4.10s Wednesday as bargain buyers came out of the woodwork. Although it didn’t quite become the feeding frenzy it was on Monday, the buying Wednesday was consistent enough to subvert a late morning push down to Tuesday’s price levels. November finished the session at $4.26, up 15 cents for the session and just about in the center of its recent $4.08-42 trading range.

For the second time in three trading sessions, natural gas futures finished strongly Thursday after tumbling lower on profit-taking pressure earlier in the day. The market sunk lower at the closing bell Wednesday after traders learned there was no correction accompanying this week’s AGA storage report. Prices continued lower at the opening Thursday, fueled by a very bearish gap-lower opening on the daily chart. However, similar to Tuesday the sell-off lacked the intensity some traders expected, and as a result, short-covering entered the market to lift prices higher in the afternoon. April closed at $2.924, up 5.4 cents for the session.

In yet another in the string of topsy-turvy trading sessions, natural gas futures sunk lower Monday, as traders took profits following Friday’s advance and liquidated positions ahead of the year-end close. The selling was most concentrated just before the 1 p.m. EST closing bell, demoting the February 2002 contract to its lowest point since April 1999. At $2.570, February was down 20.4 cents for the session and just off its 32 month low at $2.545.

After carving out a wide, 57-cent trading range over the previous two sessions, natural gas futures stayed close to home Friday as many traders choose to wait on the sidelines until a clearer fundamental picture develops. The September contract finished at $3.303, down 6.4 cents for the day, but up 26.3 cents for the week.

August futures were able to manage their first higher daily high in six trading sessions and posted an 8.4-cent gain on the day to reach $3.201 at the end of the truncated holiday trading session at Nymex. The increase was expected by many observers as a continuation of the technical correction this week, but, it is less certain where the market goes from here. Bearish fundamentals abound, but technicals indicate the rally could continue into the mid-$3s.

For the sixth time in seven trading sessions, natural gas futures advanced higher yesterday amid technical bullishness, and as traders continued to grapple with the possibility that the year-on-year storage deficit—currently at 404 Bcf—will be difficult to trim this summer when gas is in high demand for electricity generation. The May contract led all months Tuesday, finishing 8.2 cents stronger at $5.559.

Led by follow-through buying, record-setting heat out West, anda constructive over-the-counter market, natural gas futures eruptedhigher at the open yesterday as buyers propelled the market to newthree and a half year highs. The rally was short-lived, however,and after posting a $3.985 high during the first hour of trading,the June contract tumbled lower under a wave of selling pressure tofinish at $3.747, down 7.8 cents on the day. Estimated volume wasextremely heavy, with 134,429 contracts changing hands.

After suffering expiration-day losses in both regular and Accesstrading sessions Wednesday, natural gas futures made a feebleattempt at higher ground before ultimately slipping lower at theclosing bell yesterday. With that the May contract finished itsfirst day as prompt month with a 3.5 cent decline to $2.83. Volumewas extremely weak with just 48,969 contracts changing hands.

After notching gains in both the regular and Access tradingsessions Wednesday, the futures market sank again yesterday asbulls battled with an increasingly negative technical picture andunsupportive weather outlooks. Within an hour of its $2.895 open,the December contract had already slipped a nickel lower. From thatpoint it continued to chop lower for the rest of the session,finishing down 4.7 cents at $2.826.