Dow Jones Natural Gas - Sell Off Halts Near Yearly Low

DJ Natural Gas Selloff Halts Near Yearly Low


   By Timothy Puko


  NEW YORK--Natural gas prices are flip-flopping around unchanged Wednesday with traders unwilling to keep pushing a
strong selloff now that prices are near a yearly low.

  Natural gas for January delivery is up 1.1 cents, or 0.3%, at $3.663 a million British thermal units on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. The front-month contract closed within 4 cents of its lowest settlement price of 2014 on Monday
and has posted two days of marginal gains since then.

  "I think the market's searching for a bottom," said Frank Clements, co-owner of Meridian Energy Brokers Inc. outside
New York.

  Record production and mild December forecasts caused a near bear market in the last three weeks as traders have
expected supply to overwhelm demand for home heating. But hitting a yearly low in December is rare, so traders are
putting the brakes on the selloff, Mr. Clements said.

  Many who sold loaned contracts, betting that prices would decline, are using this chance to buy back in and close out
those profitable bets, analysts said. Unseasonably warm forecasts for December are also starting to moderate, and cold
weather and high heating demand could send prices back up to $4/mmBtu in the first three months of 2015, analyst Jim
Ritterbusch said in a note to clients.

  Physical gas for next-day delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana last traded at $3.6225/mmBtu, compared with
Tuesday's range of $3.56-$3.67. Cash prices at the Transco Z6 hub in New York traded in a bid-ask range of $4.20/mmBtu
to $4.50/mmBtu, compared with Monday's range of $3.97 to $4.12.


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


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  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  December 10, 2014 09:36 ET (14:36 GMT)

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

121014 14:36 -- GMT
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