Slim

Finishing the week with a sub-$7 handle, April natural gas futures traded a slim 9.5-cent range Friday before finishing the week at $6.924, down 3.5 cents on the day and 15.9 cents lower than the previous Friday’s close.

Taking a trading path similar to the one seen last Friday, April natural gas futures traded a slim 14.5-cent range during Monday’s regular trading session before settling at $7.254, up 1.1 cents on the day. Trading on Globex prior to the regular session also featured another failed attempt at breaching support down near $7.100.

Trading within a fairly slim 25-cent range, March natural gas futures on Wednesday pushed 6.1 cents higher to close at $7.646 as traders eyed the potential for yet another withdrawal report exceeding 200 Bcf when the Energy Information Administration (EIA) releases storage data for the week ended Feb. 16 on Thursday morning.

After a mostly uneventful trading session that saw a slim 19-cent trading range, natural gas futures traders Tuesday afternoon pushed the January contract lower, keeping the recent directional trend intact. After putting in a low of $7.670, the prompt month closed at $7.685, down 12.1 cents on the day.

After working lower in the Sunday overnight Globex trading session, December natural gas futures opened Monday at $7.570 and stayed within a slim 20-cent range for the entire session as milder temperature forecasts and a technical failure to breach the $8 level last week kept the bulls penned in. After putting in a $7.630 high and a $7.430 low for the day, the prompt month ended up closing at $7.490, down 39.4 cents from Friday.

September natural gas futures pushed lower Friday as follow-through selling continued in the wake of an overanticipated rally. September natural gas traded within a slim 22-cent range Friday before settling at $7.269, down 26 cents on the day but 2.3 cents higher than the previous week’s close.

After gapping lower following the overnight Access trading session to open Friday at $6.260, July natural gas traded within a slim 12-cent range as traders were quiet and action was scarce. After putting in a low of $6.170 in afternoon trading, the prompt month eased higher to close at $6.226, down 21.3 cents on the day and a whopping 95.9 cents lower than the previous Friday’s close.

Despite trading within a slim 14-cent range on Monday, the day’s market direction was already labeled as ‘lower’ following a 34.5-cent decline in Sunday’s overnight Access trade session. After opening at $6.840 Monday, July natural gas put in a low of $6.790 and a high of $6.930 before closing at $6.893, down 29.2 cents from Friday’s close.

Trading within a slim 16-cent range on the day, July natural gas on Tuesday managed only a high of $6.45 as the contract built upon Monday’s losses. After reaching a low of $6.290 just before noon EDT, the prompt month limped in to close at $6.385, down 7.8 cents on the day, bringing the week’s loss-to-date to 23.8 cents.