Natural gas futures traded lower to Rs 185.40 per mmBtu on March 23 as participants increased their short positions as seen by the open interest. Natural gas price had risen 1.9 percent yesterday on the NYMEX.
The energy commodity traded in the negative territory after a gap-down start in the afternoon session tracking the muted overseas trend.
The commodity has been trading higher than 5 and 200 days' moving averages but lower than the 20, 50 and 100 days’ moving average on a daily chart for the April contract. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 42.87 which indicates weakness in the prices.
Kotak Securities said natural gas is seeing some renewed buying interest, however, a sharp rise is unlikely owing to mixed factors in place.
The gas prices were getting support from the record US LNG exports and narrowing gap with coal increases the appeal to use gas for power generation.
The EIA( Energy Information Administration) reports that the total US consumption of natural gas fell by 3.9 percent compared with the previous report.
Kshitij Purohit, Product Manager, Currency & Commodities, CapitalVia Global Research Limited said, “The weather is expected to be warmer than normal throughout most of the east coast and the mid-west for the next 8-14 days. This should weigh on heating demand. Support for natural gas is at Rs 178 level below it may come down to Rs 170 levels whereas resistance for the energy is at Rs 190.”
MCX iCOMDEX Natural Gas Index was down 2.59 points or 0.11 percent to 2,447.59.
In the futures market, natural gas for March delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 186.10 and an intraday low of Rs 184.10 per mmBtu on MCX. So far in the current series, natural gas has touched a low of Rs 175 and a high of Rs 222.20.
Natural gas delivery for March slipped Rs 0.60, or 0.32 percent, to Rs 185.40 per mmBtu at 14:48 hours IST with a business turnover of 9,326 lots.
Natural gas delivery for April dropped Rs 0.20, or 0.11 percent, to Rs 188.90 per mmBtu with a business volume of 7,715 lots.
The value of March and April’s contracts traded so far is Rs 467.70 crore and Rs 78.17 crore, respectively.
Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities said, “International natural gas futures have started weak this Tuesday morning and early afternoon Asian trade. Technically, NYMEX natural gas could trade in a range of $2.40-2.65 levels.”
Technically, MCX Natural Gas March resistances are at Rs 192-195 levels and supports are at Rs 187-183 levels”, he said
At 09:26 (GMT), the natural gas price slides 0.93 percent quoting at $2.55 per mmBtu in New York.
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