Slim

Trading within a very slim 13-cent range, May natural gas futures on Wednesday turned in yet another uneventful session as market fundamentals remain quiet. After putting in a low of $6.770, the prompt month went on to settle at $6.808, down a dime on the day, as the market awaited fresh storage news Thursday morning.

Even as May crude futures ran significantly higher, April natural gas — one day ahead of expiration — traded within a slim 15-cent range in Tuesday’s regular trading session at the New York Mercantile Exchange before closing at $7.214, up 14.7 cents from Monday’s close. May crude increased $1.91 to close at $66.07/bbl.

Trading within a slim 18-cent range Wednesday, April natural gas futures looked unsure of their direction, calling into question recent talk that last week’s $6.450 low represented a bottom for the move. The prompt month was unable to build on the week’s earlier significant gains while also failing to break back below the psychological $7 level. April natural gas closed at $7.143, down 2.4 cents.

While mirroring Friday’s slim trading range, April natural gas futures traded at a significantly lower level on Monday. After trading down in Sunday’s Access session, April natural gas opened on Monday at $6.610, put in a high of $6.620 soon after, and set its sights lower for the remainder of the day. The prompt-month contract pushed as low as $6.470 before rebounding later in the afternoon to settle at $6.547, down 24.3 cents from Friday.

Traders appeared to take Friday off for the most part as April natural gas futures managed a slim 22-cent range with no significant pushes in either direction, lending credibility to the theory that the market is comfortable just where it is right now. Prompt-month natural gas ended up settling at $6.790, up 3 cents from Thursday but 52.3 cents lower than the previous Friday’s close.

The Republican-led House on Wednesday passed by a slim margin a negotiated massive spending bill that only slightly raises funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in fiscal year 2006.

After trading the November natural gas futures contract within a slim 25-cent range on Wednesday, traders at the end of the session decided to put the market back where it began the day and await fresh storage inventory news Thursday morning. The prompt month ended up settling at $13.524, up half a penny for the day.

Mostly taking the day off following a busy week of trading, traders on Friday pushed August natural gas around within a slim 11-cent range before the contract settled at $7.384, up 8.4 cents from Thursday, but 46.5 cents lower than the previous Friday’s close.

Taking more of a wait-and-see approach ahead of Thursday morning’s storage report, August natural gas futures traded within a slim 12.5-cent range on Wednesday before settling at $7.087, up a mere 1.4 cents on the day.