DJ Natural-Gas Rises on Mix of Technical Trading and Heating Demand
By Timothy Puko
NEW YORK--Natural-gas prices closed higher Monday for the first time in a week, likely from a mix of technical
trading and optimism about the chances for early-season heating demand, analysts and brokers said.
The front-month October contract settled up 8.3 cents, or 2.2%, at $3.876 a million British thermal units on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. The move broke a four-session losing streak and brought natural gas back into the middle of a
29-cent range that gas has traded in for almost all of the last eight weeks.
It marked the third time that gas has bounced off of a low below $3.80/mmBtu since July, and important sign, brokers
and analysts said. Electronic trading programs are likely programmed to buy automatically as gas drops that point, near
a year low, said Gene McGillian, a broker and analyst at Tradition Energy. Traders have also said they have trouble
believing gas could be far below $4/mmBtu approaching the peak winter demand season.
"You're going to get people who probably come in here, throw a couple dollars at it, if it holds, throw a few more
dollars at it," said Stephen Schork, editor of energy trade publication the Schork Report. "That's how you get a
dead-cat bounce."
Weather is probably playing a role, too, said Aaron Calder, senior market analyst at energy-consulting firm Gelber &
Associates in Houston. Temperatures in the Rockies and the Upper Midwest could drop as much as 15-degrees-Fareinheiht
below normal, he said, and the prospects for a first frost have optimistic traders looking for early-season heating
demand.
Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwireshttp://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires">http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
>
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 08, 2014 15:34 ET (19:34 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
090814 19:34 -- GMT
------
No comments:
Post a Comment