With little in the way of fresh fundamental news, natural gastraders were forced to base their decisions on a combination oftechnical factors and their own personal instinct Thursday, as theylifted prices steadily higher throughout the trading session. TheApril contract closed 17.1 cents higher at $5.212, just off its$5.22 high on the day.

While bulls were quick to claim victory for their camp, bearsturned to the charts and had other ideas about the day’s priceaction. Marked by a series of lower lows and lower highs, the Trend2001 downtrend line is just about as conspicuous as a technicalsignal can be. With descending highs and lows Tuesday, Wednesdayand Thursday, this week’s price action has been a microcosm of thisyear’s first quarter activity in which prices have descended fromthe $10 level.

Conversely, bulls see the Thursday’s rally as constructive,especially the way in which April bounced off an early $5.01 low.Natural gas has found good support at the $5.00 level several timeswith prices only twice able to pierce below that level. On bothoccasions, however, buyers were eager to build length.

Until prices can break above minor resistance at $5.24 orbeneath support at $5.01-$4.98, the New York-based Rafferty EnergyGroup looks for prices to remain range bound. On a break lower,they see prices falling first to the $4.80 level en route to a moresubstantial set back to the $4.65 level. On the upside, anotherlayer of resistance at stands at $5.38 to possibly thwart a rally.

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