Dow Jones - Natural Gas Rises As Traders Seek Bottom

DJ Natural Gas Rises as Traders Seek Bottom


   By Timothy Puko


  Natural gas inched up Wednesday as bottom-pickers continue to push a rebound from three-year lows set last week.

  Prices for the front-month November contract settled up 0.4 cent, or 0.2%, to $2.474 a million British thermal units
on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Even with three winning sessions out of four, gas is up just 1.7% from the
three-year low settlement it hit Oct. 1.

  Many traders were buying in hope that the recent historical low will be the bottom, or at least a temporary bottom in
a market that has ground almost steadily downward since late July, brokers said. Others were trying to get ahead of a
large group of bearish traders that have swarmed the market and will eventually have to buy back contracts to close out
their trades and take profits from the recent fall, brokers added.

  In October, there is also a growing risk that winter-related heating demand will cause price spikes, said John Woods,
president of JJ Woods Associates and a Nymex trader. He said he would sell at $2.60/mmBtu, but that current prices are
simply too low to risk putting on more bearish, or short, trades.

  "You're coming into a (high-demand) season, and you're not going to get short at $2.50," he said.

  Prices had been higher in early trade, but optimism subsided after weather updates later in the session showed a
lower likelihood for cold weather and strong heating demand, energy-consulting firm Gelber & Associates in Houston.


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  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  October 07, 2015 14:46 ET (18:46 GMT)

  Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

100715 18:46 -- GMT
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