Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures ended Friday's session close to a three-week low as concerns over a slowdown in demand weighed.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas for delivery in October shed 0.68%, or 2.6 cents, to settle at $3.793 per million British thermal units by close of trade on Friday.
Prices fell to $3.781 earlier in the session, the lowest since August 18.
Futures were likely to find support at $3.760 per million British thermal units, the low from August 18 and resistance at $3.917, the high from September 3.
On the week, Nymex natural gas prices lost 6.69%, or 27.2 cents.
Cooler temperature will make their arrival over parts of the U.S. in the coming days and likely curb demand for air conditioning, prompting thermal power plants to burn less of the commodity due to reduced demand.
Meanwhile, investors continued to digest Thursday's inventory data, which showed a larger than expected increase for the 20th consecutive week.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Thursday that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 79 billion cubic feet last week, compared to expectations for an increase of 73 billion cubic feet.
The five-year average change for the week is a build of 56 billion cubic feet.
Injections of gas into storage have surpassed the five-year average for 20 consecutive weeks, alleviating concerns over tightening supplies.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.709 trillion cubic feet as of last week, narrowing the deficit to the five-year average to 15.4% from 17% 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 2.
Net longs totaled 22,053 contracts, down 18% from net longs of 26,906 in the previous week.
Elsewhere on the Nymex, crude oil for October delivery settled at $93.29 a barrel by close of trade on Friday, down 2.78%, or $2.67, on the week.
Meanwhile, heating oil for September delivery slumped 1.36% on the week to settle at $2.821 per gallon by close of trade Friday.