Natural Gas Rises After 3-Day Plunge Attracts Bargain Hunters
New York, Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Natural gas rose almost 4
percent, its first rise after three days of steep declines, as
utilities and storage companies restocked inventories at cheap
prices.
Weak demand because of mild weather sent gas futures
plummeting 17 percent over the previous three sessions. Now,
prices close to six-week lows are attracting companies that
stockpile the fuel for use in residential and commercial heating
during the cold-weather months.
``Once the dust settled, they all wondered what they were
doing selling at this level,' said Tom Pena, senior energy
analyst and trading adviser at ED&F Man in New York. Man and
others started buying in electronic trading last night, and that
buying continued today, Pena said.
Natural gas for October delivery at the Henry Hub in
Louisiana rose as much as 9.4 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $2.565
per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. Prices yesterday fell 9.7 percent, the largest single-
day decline in nine months.
Gas should end the day around $2.60 to $2.65 per million
Btu, Pena said. ``There is some value here, we don't need to be
selling at $2.50, we should be buying.' |
