Natural gas futures jump 3% in afternoon trade

Natural gas futures climbed on October 1 as participants raised their bets as seen by the open interest. The gas prices had surged 8.31 percent yesterday on the NYMEX. 

The energy commodity has traded in the green since morning, tracking firm global cues.

On the MCX, natural gas delivery for October jumped Rs 12.20, or 2.85 percent to Rs 441 per mmBtu at 14:30 hours with a business turnover of 6,491 lots.

Gas delivery for November edged higher by Rs 12.90, or 2.94 percent, to Rs 451.50 per mmBtu with a business volume of 2,580 lots.

The value of October and November contracts traded so far is Rs 1,130.55 crore and Rs 92.73 crore, respectively.

MCX iCOMDEX Natural Gas Index soared 140.97 points or 2.73 percent to 5,307.68.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that the country's natural gas inventories rose by 88 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ended September 24 against market expectations of a 66 Bcf build.

Geojit Financial Services said, “Expect a range-bound trading inside Rs 405-445 levels with mild positive bias.”

Technicals

The commodity has been trading higher than 5, 20, 50, 100, and 200 days' simple moving averages and exponential moving averages on the daily chart. The momentum indicator Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 70.76, which indicates a buy in the price.

At 09:19 GMT, the natural gas price gained 0.92 percent to $5.92 per mmBtu in New York.

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