Dow Jones - End of Day Commentary

DJ Natural Gas Climbs to Two-Week High on Rising Demand


   By Timothy Puko


  NEW YORK--Natural-gas prices rose Wednesday to the highest point in two weeks
as summer heat pushed up demand.

  The front-month September delivery contract gained 4.6 cents, or 1.2%, to
$3.957 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the
highest closing price since Aug. 12. The September contract expired at the
close.

  The October contract ended at a one-month high of $4.003/mmBtu, up 5.4 cents
or 1.4%.

  Both contracts flip-flopped around unchanged on mixed weather signals,
analysts said. Though most forecasts show a spurt of summer heat covering large
parts of the country through early September, there are predictions of rain and
cool Canadian fronts that could break up or limit some of the heat in the East.

  Summer heat makes it more likely people will use their air conditioners,
consuming more gas-fired electricity. Unseasonably high temperatures and
humidity in parts of the Midwest have led to strong spot trading, boosting
prices on the futures curve, Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy-advisory firm
Ritterbusch & Associates, said in a note.

  "If this is something that was really moving things, we would have burst
through $4," said John Woods, president of JJ Woods Associates and a Nymex
floor trader. "People accept that there's a rally, but they're picking their
spots."


  Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko@wsj.com


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  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  August 27, 2014 15:21 ET (19:21 GMT)

  Copyright (c) 2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

082714 19:21 -- GMT
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