28.01.201406:27:18UTC+00Natural gas bounces back, still under pressure

Natural gas futures recovered some of the heavy losses in the past days, but still under pressure on Tuesday, as investors still proceeds to cash in on recent gains prodded by extremely cold US weather and demand anticipations for the heating fuel. February natural gas increased by 9 cents (or 2%), to $4.94 per million thermal units in electronic trading. On Monday, prices went down to 33.5 cents (or 6.5%), to almost $4.847 per million British thermal units in New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, prices advanced past $5.40, the highest since February 2010, based on the FactSet data that tracks the closing levels for most active contracts. Options on February contracts mature on Tuesday; future contracts end trading on Wednesday. March natural gas, one of the most active contracts, incur 8 cents (or 1.8%), to $4.76 per million British thermal units. Analysts rationalize the sharp price fall in the past session to a turn of profit yielding and time pressure to end February contract before maturity. “Although the temperature outlook was less severe than it looked on Friday, it still points to above average storage withdrawals through February 14,” said Timothy Evans, Citi Futures Energy Analyst, writing in a note on Monday. The US Energy Information Administration on Thursday posted a 107 billion cubic feet drop in natural gas storage over the week ended January 17. Evans postulated the total storage would go down further in early February and give some support for prices. Meanwhile, March crude oil rose to 27 cents (or 0.3%), to $95.99 per barrel. Prices lost 92 cents (or 1%), to settle at $95.72 per barrel in New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday. March Brent crude oil ascended 34 cents (or 0.3%), to $107.04 per barrel. February gasoline yielded 1 cent (or 0.4%), to $2.63 per gallon.