Natural gas futures up nearly 1% at Rs 205.10 per mmBtu on positive global cues

Natural gas futures advanced to Rs 205.10 per mmBtu on March 2. Natural gas price had risen 0.2 percent yesterday on the NYMEX.

The energy traded in the green after a gap-up start in the afternoon session tracking positive global cues.

The commodity has been trading higher than 5-, 50- and 200-day moving averages but lower than 100- and 20-moving averages on a daily chart. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 47.86 which indicates neutral momentum in prices.

Natural gas price may remain choppy near current levels until there are fresh triggers however we expect buying interest to emerge at lower levels as the recent cold snap has tightened the US market, said Kotak Securities.

The gas prices have fallen significantly in the last few days as the weather in the US normalised thus reducing demand for space heating and helping restart production.

Bespoke Weather Services said the forecast shifted a little warmer each day of the past week. The American and European weather models continued to drift warmer, pointing to low demand in the first half of March.

Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities said, “International natural gas futures have started marginally lower this Monday morning and traded flat in the early afternoon in Asian trade. Technically, NYMEX Natural Gas could trade in a range of $2.50-2.85 levels.”

MCX March Natural Gas holds resistance near Rs 206-209 levels and supports near Rs 200-198 levels, he said.

MCX iCOMDEX Natural Gas Index was up 21.08 points or 0.79 percent to 2,699.48.

In the futures market, natural gas for March delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 205.40 and an intraday low of Rs 203.20 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 February jumped Rs 1.80, or 0.89 percent, to Rs 205.10 per mmBtu at 14:36 hours IST with a business turnover of 11,631 lots.

Natural gas delivery for April gained Rs 1.80, or 0.87 percent, to Rs 208.40 per mmBtu with a business volume of 2,415 lots.

The value of March and April’s contracts traded so far is Rs 756.26 crore and Rs 27.06 crore, respectively.

Kshitij Purohit, Product Manager, Currency & Commodities, CapitalVia Global Research Limited said, “Demand declined in the last week due to milder weather. The weather is expected to remain mild across the mid-west and the east coast, which has put downward pressures on prices. Natural gas has support at Rs 199 below which may come down to 192 levels. The resistance for the energy is Rs 209 above this natural gas go towards Rs 216 levels.”

At 09:10 (GMT), the natural gas price was slightly up 0.11 percent quoting at $2.78 per mmBtu in New York.

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