DJ Natural-Gas Prices Rise Slightly as Traders Position for Data Release
By Timothy Puko
NEW YORK--Natural-gas prices flip-flopped around unchanged Wednesday,
recently trading slightly higher as traders position themselves ahead of the
weekly stockpile update.
Natural gas for September delivery is up 0.4 cent, or 0.1%, at $3.901 a
million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Trading has
stayed within a 5-cent range.
Prices have recently stabilized and this week have started to rebound
slightly from a summer of losses. Gains today would make a third-straight
winning session, which the natural gas market hasn't seen since the first week
of June.
While unseasonably cool forecasts are still signaling soft demand, they
aren't as cool as they once were, inspiring some buying, analysts said. Prices
have also dropped back to about their trading range from a year ago, probably a
sign that the market has hit a fair price barring new influential news, said
Tom Saal, a broker at INTL FCStone Latin America in Miami.
"You're trading to areas we've been before," he said. "So we're kind of like
back to the future."
Trading has likely stayed within a tight range because of tomorrow's
stockpile update from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Mr. Saal and
other analysts said. Traders are closely monitoring stockpile levels because
the frigid winter had drained them to 11-year lows. That has often made for a
calm natural gas market on Wednesday and Thursday morning as traders get in
position and wait to react to the report, which has frequently caused the
market's biggest jolts since April.
Physical gas for next-day delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana last traded
at $3.89/mmBtu, compared with Tuesday's range of $3.82-$3.88. Cash prices at
the Transco Z6 hub in New York last traded at $2.71/mmBtu, compared with
Tuesday's range of $2.64 to $2.79.
Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: <a href="http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires">http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires</a>
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 06, 2014 09:42 ET (13:42 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
080614 13:42 -- GMT
No comments:
Post a Comment