Natural gas futures tumble to 2-week low on mild weather outlook
Investing.com
Published Sep 24, 2013 10:37AM ET
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in October traded at USD3.532 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning trade, down 1.95%.
The October contract fell by as much as 2.1% earlier in the session to hit a daily low of USD3.528 per million British thermal units, the weakest since September 11.
The October contract settled 2.3% lower at USD3.602 per million British thermal units on Monday.
Meanwhile, the more actively traded contract for November delivery lost 1.9% to trade at USD3.607 per million British thermal units.
Nymex gas futures were likely to find support at USD3.537 per million British thermal units, the low from September 12 and resistance at USD3.809, the high from September 19.
Market players continued to monitor near-term weather forecasts to gauge the strength of demand for the fuel.
Updated weather forecasting models pointed to mostly normal to below-normal temperatures across most parts of the U.S. Northeast and Midwest for the next ten days.
Bearish speculators are betting on the mild weather to reduce demand for the fuel with autumn’s low-demand shoulder season looming.
The shoulder season is the period in autumn when gas demand typically slackens and prices fall.
Meanwhile, U.S. supply levels also remained in focus. Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.299 trillion cubic feet as of last week, 0.5% above the five-year average for the same week and 5.4% below last year's unusually high level.
Early injection estimates for this week’s storage data range from 61 billion cubic feet to 71 billion cubic feet, compared to a 79 billion cubic feet increase during the same week a year earlier.
The five-year average for the week is a build of 75 billion cubic feet.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in November dropped 1.15% to trade at a seven-week low of USD102.39 a barrel, while heating oil for October delivery declined 0.75% to trade at USD2.934 per gallon.
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Written By: Investing.com
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