Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures ended Friday's session lower, as investors monitored near-term weather forecasts to gauge the strength of demand for the fuel.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas for delivery in October shed 7.3 cents, or 1.87%, to settle at $3.837 per million British thermal units by close of trade on Friday.
A day earlier, natural gas prices plunged 10.3 cents, or 2.57%, to end at $3.910.
Futures were likely to find support at $3.786 per million British thermal units, the low from September 12 and resistance at $4.027, the high from September 18.
On the week, Nymex natural gas prices lost 2.0 cents, or 0.51%.
Updated weather-forecasting models released Friday called for mild temperatures for a good portion of the U.S. into early October, which should dampen demand.
Meanwhile, investors continued to digest Thursday's inventory data, which showed a larger than expected increase for the 22nd consecutive week.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 90 billion cubic feet last week. 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 22 consecutive weeks, alleviating concerns over tightening supplies.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.891 trillion cubic feet as of last week, narrowing the deficit to the five-year average to 13.3% from 14.2% a week earlier and down from a record 54.7% at the end of March.
Data from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission released Friday showed that hedge funds and money managers decreased their bullish bets in natural gas futures in the week ending September 16.
Net longs totaled 13,119 contracts, down 30.95% from net longs of 19,000 in the previous week.
Elsewhere on the Nymex, crude oil for November delivery settled at $91.65 a barrel by close of trade on Friday, down 62 cents, or 0.67%, on the week.
Meanwhile, heating oil for October delivery slumped 0.94% on the week to settle at $2.716 per gallon by close of trade Friday.