Thursdays

July natural gas is set to open a penny lower Friday morning at $4.55 as traders sense an inability to take out Thursday’s highs and a weak near-term technical environment. Overnight oil markets weakened.

June natural gas is set to open 5 cents lower Friday morning at $4.42 as fundamentals traders see the market as range-bound and technical traders suggest a retest of Thursday’s lows before moving higher. Overnight oil markets posted nominal gains.

For the third time in the last four Thursdays, the natural gas futures market rallied higher following the release of surprisingly bullish storage news (164 Bcf withdrawal). And while bears are not ready to throw in the towel just yet, analysts and market-watchers agree that it is becoming easier to make the case that prices could move higher from current levels.

In what several traders noted was a quiet session as far as Thursdays go, natural gas futures chopped sideways yesterday as storage-related selling and weather-related buying were evenly matched.

As has often been the case on Thursdays this summer, natural gas futures prices tumbled lower on the news that the market had injected another hefty volume of gas (83 Bcf) into underground storage facilities. The August contract was hardest hit by the sell-off as it fell to a new seven-month prompt contract low at $4.66. A small rebound was seen near the close, leaving the contract to finish the session at $4.731, down 14.5 cents for the day and nearly two dollars off its high from early last month.

Thursdays have been a bearish trader’s best friend lately withthree of the last four featuring follow-through selling on theheels of some hefty storage refill estimates. However, yesterdaydid not follow true to form, as traders digested alarger-than-expected 92 Bcf American Gas Association storage refillestimate then managed to push July up 2.5 cents to settle at$2.071. In doing so, several traders remarked, July exhibitedJune-like characteristics marked by narrow trading ranges amidrelatively low volume. June looked to expire without much fussearlier in the week, then the bottom dropped out on the last day.It “looks as if that was more a case of people liquidatingpositions then anything,” a trader reasoned.