Natural gas futures slip 1.25% in afternoon trade

Natural gas futures eased to Rs 142.40 per mmBtu on July 30 as participants increased their short position. Prices gained 3.5 percent on NYMEX on July 29 after US President Donald Trump authorised export for liquefied natural gas to go through 2050 and signed four permits for pipeline and rail transport of fossil fuel.

In the futures market, natural gas for August delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 144.40 and a low of Rs 141.70 per mmBtu on the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX). So far in the current series, natural gas has touched a low of Rs 121.4 and a high of Rs 159.4.

Natural gas futures for August delivery slipped Rs 1.8, or 1.25 percent, to Rs 142.3 per mmBtu at 15:06 hours IST on a business turnover of 12,021 lots. The same for September delivery dropped Rs 1.4, or 0.9 percent at Rs 154.20 per mmBtu on a business volume of 1,516 lots.

The value of August and September contracts traded so far is Rs514.75 crore and Rs 16.13 crore, respectively.

Natural gas is likely to trade positive bias for the session with support at Rs 136-134, whereas resistance is seen at Rs 146.80-149, according to Motilal Oswal.

At 09:42 (GMT), the natural gas price was down 2.02 percent at $1.89 per mmBtu in New York.

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