Traders

It took a while longer than many traders had counted on, but thewidely expected recovery from last Thursday’s falling pricesfinally came to pass Wednesday. The upticks were broadly based butdiverse, ranging from 2-5 cents at many Gulf Coast and Midcontinentpoints to 10-15 cents in the California market.

ÿBetter late than never, bullish traders must have thought onTuesday. After posting a extremely light trading session on Monday,the spot August Nymex futures contract exploded 8.0 cents higher tosettle Tuesday at $2.469. The contract managed to hit a high of$2.485 amid a session when a robust 52,644 estimated totalcontracts changed hands.

$2.40 gas proved to be too much for July on Wednesday, as thespot futures contract fell 5.5 cents to settle the day at $2.336.July opened at $2.41, but that turned out to be its high trade forthe day as sellers were quick to liquidate positions and takeprofits ahead of the contract’s expiration this Friday.

A number of traders were experiencing early cases of the”Summertime Blues” Monday due to what they perceived as a verylackluster market. “It will be easy to report the prices todaybecause they’ve hardly budged” from Friday, a Gulf Coast marketertold Daily GPI. Another source quoting flat to slightly lowerChicago citygates in the mid $2.00s noted he was “just sitting hereyawning.”

The relatively small declines in Eastern markets Fridaysurprised some traders. Although down another 2-5 cents overall,pipes in the Gulf Coast and Midcontinent were rebounding late tolevels essentially flat from Thursday. The weakness in Thursdayafternoon’s Access futures trading pushed prices down early Friday,a marketer said, “then things came back up when the Merc showed alittle strength.” Although the screen eventually shed its gains towind up basically unchanged, that occurred too late to impact cashtrading.

Trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange was once againsubdued on Tuesday, as many traders seemed to stand to thesidelines in anticipation of the release of the AGA storage reportlater this evening. Amid what trading did get accomplished, theJune contract inched 1.5 cents higher to settle the day at $2.149.

The June Nymex contract lost another 4.4 cents to $2.134 Monday,as traders continued to test just how long the spot month can holdabove major technical support at $2.11. June reached a low of$2.125 yesterday before last minute buying pushed the contract toits higher settle.

As expected, prices fell Thursday by a nickel to a dime at mostpoints. There was carryover momentum from Wednesday’s late cashsoftness that was pushed along by a drop on the futures screen, amarketer said. A lack of buyers also contributed to the marketweakness, he added. However, he saw Midcontinent prices onPanhandle Eastern, NGPL and ANR rebound to $2.08 after sliding aslow as $2.04 earlier in the day. That and the screen’s afternoonupticks have the marketer looking for upside potential in today’scash trading.

The June Nymex contract inched 2.4 cents higher to $2.159 onThursday, as traders entered a slight buying mode following the 8.0cent decline June turned in the previous session. “Today was a bigday in that the contract held technical support at $2.11,” ananalyst told GPI. Total estimated volume came in at 47,753contracts.