Investing.com - Natural gas futures fell on Tuesday after updated weather-forecasting models called for a below-normal temperatures over portions of the eastern U.S., which could prompt households to throttle back on their air conditioning.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in August traded at $4.139 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading, down 2.05%. The commodity hit a session high of $4.233 and a low of $4.131.
The August contract settled down 4.11% on Monday to end at $4.225 per million British thermal units.
Natural gas futures were likely to find support at $4.130 per million British thermal units, the session low, and resistance at $4.608, the high from June 26.
Updated weather-forecasting models called for cooler-than-normal temperatures across most parts of the heavily-populated Midwest and Northeast regions over the next five days, dampening demand for gas-fired electricity to power air conditioning.
Meanwhile, concerns over tight supplies continued to wane after weekly supply data released last week showed that utilities in the U.S. added 100 billion cubic feet of gas into storage in the week ended June 20, in line with expectations.
The five-year average change for the week is an increase of 68 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 1.929 trillion cubic feet as of last week, 25.7% below their level this time last year and 29.1% below the five-year average.
Natural gas stockpiles have grown by 100 or more billion cubic feet for eight consecutive weeks, a record streak since 1994.
This week’s government report due Thursday was expected to show that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 92 billion cubic feet in the week ended July 4. The five-year average increase for the period is 72 billion.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in August were down 0.13% at $103.40 a barrel, while heating oil for August delivery were down 1.10% at $2.8826 per gallon.