Transfixed

With one eye transfixed on this week’s expiration of March options and futures, natural gas traders played it cool Friday as they lifted the market off its early lows to post the week’s fourth straight session described by a higher high and higher low on the daily chart. The March contract closed at $2.449, up 2.4 cents for the session and 24.3 cents for the week. As it had been all week, volume in the gas pit at Nymex was heavy Friday, with an estimated 96,779 contracts changing hands.