Investing.com - Natural gas prices posted fresh gains on Wednesday after updated weather-forecasting models called for both warm and cool temperatures that should drive demand for both air conditioning and heating, respectively.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in October were up 0.18% at $4.002 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading. The commodity hit a session low of $3.961, and a high of $4.040.
The October contract settled up 1.63% on Tuesday to end at $3.995 per million British thermal units.
Natural gas futures were likely to find support at $3.786 per million British thermal units, Friday's low, and resistance at $4.078, the high from Sept. 2.
Northern U.S. states will see cooler temperatures in the coming week, which drive demand for heating, while warm temperatures over the southern U.S. will prompt households to crank up their air conditioning, forecasts that bolstered the commodity.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly storage report slated for release on Thursday is expected to show an increase of 93 billion cubic feet for the week ending Sept. 12.
Inventories rose by 48 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change is a build of 71 billion cubic feet.
Injections of gas into storage have surpassed the five-year average for 21 consecutive weeks, alleviating concerns over tightening supplies.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.801 trillion cubic feet as of last week, narrowing the deficit to the five-year average to 14.2% from 15.4% a week earlier and down from a record 54.7% at the end of March.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in November were down 0.90% at $92.97 a barrel, while heating oil for October delivery were down 0.50% at $2.7424 per gallon.