Natural gas extend losses on U.S. stockpile report

By Investing.com  |  Commodities  |  Jul 18, 2014 05:23PM GMT  |   Add a Comment

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Investing.com - Natural gas carried Thursday's losses into Friday after data revealed that U.S. natural gas supplies rose more than expected last week.

Natural gas prices fall to near session lows on Thursday's bearish supply report

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in August traded at $3.940 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading, down 0.37%. The commodity hit a session high of $3.976 and a low of $3.936.
The August contract settled down 4.01% on Thursday to end at $3.954 per million British thermal units.
Natural gas futures were likely to find support at $3.936 per million British thermal units, the session low, and resistance at $4.173, Monday's high.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report on Thursday that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ended July 11 rose by 107 billion cubic feet, well above market expectations for an increase of 98 billion cubic feet.
The five-year average change for the week is an increase of 65 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.129 trillion cubic feet. Stocks were 608 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 727 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 2.856 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.
Natural gas prices have come under pressure in recent sessions after cooler temperatures moved over heavily-populated Midwest and Northeast regions.
Cool snaps in the U.S. summertime send natural gas prices falling on concerns households will throttle back on their air conditioning and curb demand for the commodity.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in August were down 0.13% at $103.06 a barrel, while heating oil for August delivery were down 0.17% at $2.8544 per gallon.