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Forumer storico
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Natural gas futures rose to seven-week highs Friday, supported by expectations that the cold weather felt across much of the northern U.S. would lift demand for the heating fuel.
Natural gas for April delivery settled up 15.9 cents, or 3.8%, at $4.403 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest ending price since Feb. 2.
Futures have ended higher in five of the last seven sessions, supported by cold weather across much of the northern tier of the U.S. that is expected to bring unusually high early-spring demand for the fuel. On the week, futures rose by 5.6%.
Weather forecasts were little changed Friday. Meteorologists with MDA EarthSat see cold across the northern U.S. through early next week.
Temperatures during the first days of April are expected to trend colder than normal across much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with warmer-than-normal temperatures in the Southwest, the private forecaster said.
Futures surged during the half hour of floor trading, jumping by about 10 cents as investment funds who held bets that prices would fall bought back those positions ahead of Tuesday's expiration of the April contract, traders said.
"We had pretty good volume here during the last half hour," said Tom Saal, a broker with INTL Hencorp Futures. "It looks like short-covering from funds."
But with spring's low-demand shoulder season looming, further gains may be limited. Gas use typically hits a seasonal low with spring's mild temperatures, before warmer weather increases demand for gas-fired electricity generation to power air conditioning.
"The coming cold is offset by the fact that we've got some injections" into U.S. storage coming up, said Pax Saunders, an analyst with Houston-based Gelber & Associates.
Meanwhile, the number of rigs drilling for natural gas in the U.S. rose for the first time in four weeks, Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) said. There were 880 rigs drilling for natural gas during the week ended Friday, the oil-field services provider said, up by five from the previous week.
Gas prices had been under pressure in recent weeks from the view that North American production will overwhelm demand this year.
Based on government storage data and expected weather-related gas needs, analysts with Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. estimate that during the past four weeks, the market has been oversupplied by about 3 billion cubic feet a day.
Natural gas for April delivery settled up 15.9 cents, or 3.8%, at $4.403 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest ending price since Feb. 2.
Futures have ended higher in five of the last seven sessions, supported by cold weather across much of the northern tier of the U.S. that is expected to bring unusually high early-spring demand for the fuel. On the week, futures rose by 5.6%.
Weather forecasts were little changed Friday. Meteorologists with MDA EarthSat see cold across the northern U.S. through early next week.
Temperatures during the first days of April are expected to trend colder than normal across much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with warmer-than-normal temperatures in the Southwest, the private forecaster said.
Futures surged during the half hour of floor trading, jumping by about 10 cents as investment funds who held bets that prices would fall bought back those positions ahead of Tuesday's expiration of the April contract, traders said.
"We had pretty good volume here during the last half hour," said Tom Saal, a broker with INTL Hencorp Futures. "It looks like short-covering from funds."
But with spring's low-demand shoulder season looming, further gains may be limited. Gas use typically hits a seasonal low with spring's mild temperatures, before warmer weather increases demand for gas-fired electricity generation to power air conditioning.
"The coming cold is offset by the fact that we've got some injections" into U.S. storage coming up, said Pax Saunders, an analyst with Houston-based Gelber & Associates.
Meanwhile, the number of rigs drilling for natural gas in the U.S. rose for the first time in four weeks, Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) said. There were 880 rigs drilling for natural gas during the week ended Friday, the oil-field services provider said, up by five from the previous week.
Gas prices had been under pressure in recent weeks from the view that North American production will overwhelm demand this year.
Based on government storage data and expected weather-related gas needs, analysts with Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. estimate that during the past four weeks, the market has been oversupplied by about 3 billion cubic feet a day.
