Natural gas futures continued to move higher for the third successive day on August 4, thanks to increase in cooling demand on expectations of warm weather in most parts of the United States. The gas prices had surged 2.34 percent in the previous session on the NYMEX.
The energy commodity traded in the positive territory after a gap-up start, tracking firm global trend.
On the MCX, natural gas delivery for August gained Rs 1.80, or 0.60 percent, to Rs 301.80 per mmBtu at 14:29 hours with a business turnover of 17,102 lots.
Gas delivery for September jumped Rs 1.80, or 0.60 percent, to Rs 302.70 per mmBtu with a business volume of 2,985 lots.
The value of August and September's contracts traded so far is Rs 628.82 crore and Rs 51.95 crore, respectively.
MCX iCOMDEX Natural Gas Index rose 20.77 points or 0.57 percent to 3,687.16.
Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities said, “International natural gas futures have started higher this Wednesday morning and early afternoon Asian trade ahead of inventory report on Thursday. Technically, NYMEX Natural Gas could trade in a range of $3.900-4.100 levels.”
On the domestic front, MCX Natural Gas August holds strong support near Rs 297-Rs 293 levels. Resistance is at Rs 301-Rs 305 levels”, he added.
Market participants will take further cues from the weekly inventory report scheduled to be released tomorrow.
The weather is expected to be warmer than average throughout the North East for the next 6-10 days and then moderate slightly but remain normal throughout the country.
The total supply of natural gas rose slightly this week. The average total supply of natural gas jumped 0.2 percent compared with the previous reported week, according to EIA.
Technicals
The energy commodity has been trading higher than 5, 20, 50, 100 and 200 days' moving averages and exponential moving averages on the daily chart. The momentum indicator Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 66.67, which indicates bullish movement in the price.
Geojit Financial Services said corrective selling pressure is likely as long as Rs 303 caps the upside. A direct rise above the same would take prices further higher.
At 09:10 GMT, the natural gas price was up 0.87 percent at $4.06 per mmBtu in New York.
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