Traded

Nymex Holdings in its first day as a publicly traded company Friday soared to more than double its initial public offering (IPO) price, opening up 103% higher at $120 per share before climbing to a high of $152 on the New York Stock Exchange. The newly public company’s share price finished the day at $132.99.

Nymex Holdings in its first day as a publicly traded company Friday soared to more than double its initial public offering (IPO) price, opening up 103% higher at $120 per share before climbing to a high of $152 on the New York Stock Exchange. The newly public company’s share price finished the day at $132.99.

October natural gas futures traded within a fairly tight 17-cent range Tuesday as the expiring prompt month continued to feel out two-year-old support around the $4.500 level. One day ahead of going off of the board, the contract put in a low of $4.380 before closing at $4.526, up 5.1 cents on the day.

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.

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.

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.

March natural gas futures traded within a relatively quiet 30-cent range Tuesday before settling at $9.316, down 7.3 cents from Monday. The interesting thing about the otherwise mundane session was that the market saw almost no correction to Monday’s 88.2-cent gain.

The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. (Nymex) announced Tuesday that a record 10,000 natural gas calendar spread options contracts were traded on Dec. 15, surpassing the previous record of 6,600 contracts on Oct. 15, 2004. “This record is a further indication that the energy industry continues to see the exchange as a reliable source of risk management, liquidity, and price transparency,” said James E. Newsome, president of Nymex.