Amid a bearish-leaning week in the natural gas futures market as traders eyed moderating late-summer cooling demand into the end of the month, weekly physical prices gave up ground despite some strong heat regionally for the period.

The NGI Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. for Aug. 15-21 delivery came in at $2.600/MMBtu, off 11.0 cents versus the week-earlier period.

With daily trends showing sharp heat-driven gains early in the week followed by moderation, weekly cash prices at a number of Rockies and California hubs finished lower. Opal gave up 24.0 cents week/week to fall to $4.035. Malin dropped 41.0 cents to $3.955.

Prices at the generally constrained SoCal Citygate gained week/week, picking up $1.180 to reach $6.630.

Meanwhile, numerous hubs throughout the rest of the...