Weekly natural gas cash prices ultimately gave up ground amid near-term mild temperatures and light heating demand, which culminated a choppy slog of trading marked by wavering weather forecasts, a stout storage injection and a cloud of recession fears that threatened to darken.

NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. for the Oct. 31-Nov. 4 period dropped 73.0 cents to $3.755, extending an autumn-long slump imposed by benign weather and strong production that hit a record level in October.

Leading weekly decliners included Algonquin Citygate, down $1.595 to $2.835, and Columbia Gas, off $1.415 to $2.650.

Elsewhere, OGT fell $1.320 to $2.635, and Katy lost $1.965 to $2.480.

The December Nymex natural gas futures contract, meanwhile, hopped aboard a rollercoaster of its own....