Investing.com - Natural gas prices edged lower on Wednesday as investors avoided the commodity ahead of the release of Thursday's weekly inventory report.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in May traded at $4.541 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading, down 0.58%. The commodity hit session high of $4.604 and a low of $4.536.
The May contract settled up 0.15% on Tuesday to end at $4.567 per million British thermal units.
Natural gas futures were likely to find support at $4.513 per million British thermal units, Tuesday's low, and resistance at $4.702, Thursday's high.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its storage report for the week ending April 11 on Thursday, with many analysts expecting the report to show the first significant build in inventories since November.
Severely cold weather over this past winter saw natural gas stockpiles fall to 11-year lows, sparking concerns that producers may not be able to refill inventories before the next heating season.
Producers typically replenish inventories between April and October, when demand is lower.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption. Approximately 52% of U.S. households use natural gas for heating, according to the Energy Department.
Last week’s government supply data showed that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 4 billion cubic feet, the first storage injection this year, while total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 826 billion cubic feet.
Supporting natural gas prices, however, were weather forecasts were calling for colder temperatures in the central and eastern U.S. before seasonably mild temperatures return later in the week.
Mild temperatures tend to suppress demand for heating or air conditioning, which cuts into demand for natural gas.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in May were down 0.08% and trading at $103.67 a barrel, while heating oil for May delivery were up 0.84% and trading at $3.0120 per gallon.