Staged

A day after dropping 28.2 cents, natural gas futures staged a rally on Friday, with traders pushing the June contract to a high of $10.785 before it finished the session at $10.777, up 21.6 cents from Thursday, but 32.4 cents lower than the contract’s close a week earlier. The May contract expired April 28 at $11.280.

After beginning Monday’s trading by probing lower price levels down at $7.600, the March natural gas futures contract staged a surprise rally around noon EST, peaking at $7.990 before settling the day’s regular session at $7.869, up 12.9 cents from Friday’s close.

October natural gas futures staged a late-session rally Wednesday and finished at the high end of the day’s trading range. October rose 17.6 cents to settle at $5.805, and the November contract added 11.4 cents to finish at $6.690.

September natural gas futures staged a stout 29.1-cent advance Monday to settle at $6.499, and for the moment all concern of bin-busting inventories and low demand have been put on the back burner. The latest government figures show that funds and managed accounts increased their short holdings by more than 20%, thus adding to the overwhelming short holdings (and number of ultimate buyers) of speculative accounts.

The cash and natural gas futures markets read like a”A Tale of Two Cities” Wednesday as most cash points dropped while the April futures contract staged a quarter rally to close at $7.160. Moderating temperatures expected to swoop in for the remainder of the week allowed the Northeast to record declines ranging from just shy of a nickel to 43 cents, the latter of which was recorded by Dracut putting gas for delivery on Thursday at that location at $7.18.

Natural gas futures staged a rally overnight Sunday and into Monday’s regular session as traders assessed forecasts for more seasonal January weather and a short-term positive technical outlook. After reaching a high of $6.560 on Monday, February natural gas ended up closing at $6.378, up 19.4 cents from Friday’s close.

While prompt-month natural gas staged a feeble rally Friday afternoon, the real news of the day was the 25-cent and greater losses across most winter contracts. October natural gas traded within a $4.810 to $5.070 range before settling the week at $4.982, up 9 cents on the day, but 69.3 cents lower than the previous Friday’s close.

In a seemingly improbable reversal of fortune, cash prices staged a rally at all points Tuesday, with only MRT failing to realize a double-digit gain. Except in parts of the heating up West, weather fundamentals remained weak and prior-trading-day screen support was negative.

After losing nearly a dollar in value in a week, dropping to $6.689 Thursday from $7.651 on Wednesday, Aug. 9, near-month gas futures staged a somewhat surprising reversal on Friday on technical factors and in response to an increase in tropical activity. The September contract soared to a daily high of $7.090 just after 1 p.m. before backtracking to end the day up only 4.2 cents at $6.731.