Natural gas futures slide nearly 1% to Rs 218.80 per mmBtu on warmer weather

Natural gas futures on April 29 fell to Rs 218.80 per mmBtu as participants increased their short positions as seen by the open interest. Natural gas had soared 1.81 percent yesterday on the NYMEX.

The energy commodity traded in the negative territory after a gap-up start in the afternoon session tracking weak global cues.

The commodity has been trading higher than 5, 20, 50, 100 and 200 days' moving averages on a daily chart. The momentum indicator Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 66.49 which indicates bullish movement in the prices.

As per National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the weather is likely to be warmer than normal for most of the United States for the next 8-14 days.

Market players are likely to take a further cue from EIA weekly inventory report to be released later in the day.

Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities said, “International natural gas futures have started flat this morning and lower in the early afternoon in Asian trade. Technically, NYMEX Natural Gas could trade in a range of $2.80-3.07 levels.”

“Technically, MCX Natural Gas May supports are at Rs 220 and Rs 218 whereas resistances are at Rs 224 and Rs 227 levels”, Iyer added.

MCX iCOMDEX Natural Gas Index was down 27.53 points or 1 percent to 2,736.69.

In the futures market, natural gas for May delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 222.20 and an intraday low of Rs 217.70 per mmBtu on MCX. So far in the current series, natural gas has touched a low of Rs 184.10 and a high of Rs 222.90.

Natural gas delivery for May slipped Rs 2.10, or 0.95 percent, to Rs 218.80 per mmBtu at 14:59 hours IST with a business turnover of 21,579 lots.

Natural gas delivery for June dropped Rs 2.30, or 1.02 percent, to Rs 223.10 per mmBtu with a business volume of 2,635 lots.

The value of May and June’s contracts traded so far is Rs 806.41 crore and Rs 29.08 crore, respectively.

At 0930 (GMT), the natural gas price eased 0.37 percent, quoting at $2.94 per mmBtu in New York.

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