Natural Gas Futures Rise After Biggest Drop in 12 Days - Monarch

Natural gas futures in New York climbed the most in two weeks after a government report showed U.S. stockpiles fell more than expected last week. Gas advanced 4.3 percent on an Energy Department report that inventories dropped 82 billion cubic feet in the week ended Dec. 14 to 3.724 trillion.

Analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg forecast a withdrawal of 75 billion, while a survey of Bloomberg users predicted a decrease of 76 billion. Natural gas for January delivery rose 14.2 cents to settle at $3.462 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The percentage gain was the biggest since Dec. 5. The futures are up 16 percent this year, heading for the first annual increase since 2007. Prices declined to $3.261 per million Btu in intraday trading on Dec. 14, the lowest level since Sept. 28.

February $3 puts were the most active gas options in electronic trading. They were 2.1 cents lower at 2.3 cents on volume of 3,947 contracts as of 3:03 p.m. Puts accounted for 56 percent of options volume. The stockpile decrease was smaller than the five-year average decline for the week of 144 billion cubic feet, department data show.

A surplus to the five-year average rose to 10.2 percent from 8 percent the previous period. Supplies were 1.8 percent above year-earlier inventories, compared with 1.3 percent last week.

Source : Equity Bulls

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