Wore

Gathering momentum as the trading session wore on Thursday, natural gas futures extended to new six-week highs as traders were forced to grapple with the bullish one-two combination of strength in the crude oil market and a lower-than-expected 53 Bcf storage injection for the week ending Aug. 9. The September and October contracts caught the biggest updraft from the buying, each gaining 21.7 cents to close at $3.127 and $3.172 respectively. At 139,856, volume for all the contracts in the gas pit was heavy and served to punctuate the price move.