Mumbai, Nov. 17- Natural gas front month contract on MCX opened on a firm note on Saturday after registering a 3% leap in the previous session. MCX gas noted an intraday increase of more than 1% but eased a bit to trade with modest gains. MCX gas traded higher for a second day today tracking the sharp gain on Nymex yesterday.
Nymex gas ended with a near 4% rise yesterday marking its first gain in four trading sessions. Nymex gas bounced back yesterday as traders covered short positions after the losses noted earlier and ahead of the weekend. Also supporting prices was short term forecast of coolerweather in some parts of US which will increase heating demand for natural gas and an over $1rally in crude oil on Nymex.
According to Dow Jones newswires report, a midday update of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Global Forecasting System weather model forecasted that brisk temperatures are to continue in the US East over the next few days.
However weighing on prices were forecast of milder winter in US this year and abundant gas stocks in storage despite a fall from record high last week. US natural gas stocks fell by 9 Bcf to 3536 Bcf for the week ended Nov. 9. Current stocks are 8.4% higher than the five year average stocks for the period as against previous week's surplus of 8.9% and 2.5% higher than stocks for the same period last year as against previous week's surplus of 2.9%.
On MCX, Nov. contract opened at Rs.315.70 per mmBtu, Rs.1.60 or 0.5% higher than its previous closing price of Rs.314.10 per mmBtu. It noted an intraday increase of Rs.3.90 or 1.2% to move as high as Rs.318 per mmBtu. It has been trading at Rs.315.60 per mmBtu with a gain of Rs.1.50
As per the COT report, speculators for Nymex natural gas futures raised their long and short positions but continued to be net short for the week ended Nov. 13. The raised net short position by 11480 contracts or 21% over the week in addition to the 8.4% rise noted in the previous week.
Nymex gas Dec. contract settled yesterday at $8.001 per mmBtu with a gain of 30.1 cents or 3.9%. Over the week front month contract noted an increase of 10.4 cents or 1.3% and traded in a range of $8.123 to $7.650 per mmBtu. Front month contract noted a 6.2% slide in the previous week.
Natural Gas movement on MCX as at 10:46 hrs IST
Month | Open (Rs/mmBtu) | Last (Rs/mmBtu) | Change over PCP | High (Rs/mmBtu) | Low (Rs/mmBtu) | Volume in lots |
Nov. | 315.70 | 315.60 | +1.50 | 318.00 | 315.10 | 41 |
Dec. | 328.50 | 328.20 | +0.90 | 331.50 | 327.10 | 11 |
PCP- Previous closing price