Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures rose to a one-week high on Wednesday, as market players monitored near-term weather forecasts to gauge the strength of demand for the fuel ahead of Thursday’s closely-watched supply report.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas for delivery in December climbed to a session high of $3.790 per million British thermal units, the most since October 22.
Prices last traded at $3.777 during U.S. morning hours, up 3.0 cents, or 0.81%.
A day earlier, natural gas prices fell to an 11-month low of $3.620, before turning higher to settle at $3.731, up 9.4 cents, or 2.58%.
Futures were likely to find support at $3.620 per million British thermal units, the low from October 28, and resistance at $3.806, the high from October 22.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly storage report slated for release on Thursday is expected to show an increase of 85 billion cubic feet for the week ending October 24.
Inventories rose by 45 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change is a build of 59 billion cubic feet.
Injections of gas into storage have surpassed the five-year average for 27 consecutive weeks, alleviating concerns over tightening supplies.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.393 trillion cubic feet as of last week, narrowing the deficit to the five-year average to 9.1% from a record 54.7% at the end of March.
Meanwhile, updated weather-forecasting models predicted cold Canadian air to make its way south in the lower 48 states in the coming days, potentially driving demand for heating.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
Elsewhere on the Nymex, crude oil for delivery in December rallied 87 cents, or 1.07%, to trade at $82.29 a barrel, while heating oil for December delivery jumped 1.6% to trade at $2.522 per gallon.