Natural gas rallies as blast of cold air sweeps across U.S.
Published Dec 30, 2013 12:29PM ET
Longer-range forecasts, meanwhile, eased off earlier calls for a warm snap in January, which boosted prices even further.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in February traded at USD4.453 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading, up 1.93%.
The commodity hit a session high of 4.471 and a low of 4.407, with support seen at 4.333, Friday's low, and resistance seen at 4.577, the high from Dec. 23.
The February contract settled 2.41% lower on Friday to end at USD4.368 per million British thermal units.
Updated weather forecasting models called for chilly temperatures across the East Coast of the U.S. during the next six to ten days.
Colder-than-average winter temperatures increase the need for gas-fired electricity to heat homes, boosting demand for natural gas.
Longer-range forecasting models backed off on earlier calls for a warming trend to settle in the next two weeks.
Natgasweather.com reported in its 8-14 day outlook that while uncertainty remains and warmer temperatures are possible, more blasts of cold air could trek across the country and hike demand for heating in the country's homes and business.
Meanwhile, U.S. supply levels remained in focus. Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.071 trillion cubic feet as of last week, approximately 16% below last year's unusually high level and nearly 9% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Early withdrawal estimates for this week’s storage data range from 110 billion cubic feet to 150 billion cubic feet, compared to a drop of 126 billion cubic feet during the same week a year earlier.
The five-year average change for the week is a decline of 121 billion cubic feet.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in February were down 1.10% to trade at USD99.22 a barrel, while heating oil for February delivery were down 0.81% to trade at USD3.0669 per gallon.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Investing.com
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.