Investing.com - Natural gas rose on Wednesday, coming up off 8-month lows after investors priced in unseasonably mild temperatures in the eastern half of the U.S. and bet that hotter temperatures will return and hike demand for air conditioning.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in August traded at $3.796 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading, up 0.64%. The commodity hit a session high of $3.817 and a low of $3.756.
The August contract settled down 2.00% on Tuesday to end at $3.772 per million British thermal units.
Natural gas futures were likely to find support at $3.741 per million British thermal units, the low from Nov. 26, 2013, and resistance at $3.893, Monday's high.
Natural gas prices dove in recent sessions after weather-forecasting services predicted a summertime cool snap to make its way across parts of the heavily-populated Midwest and northeastern U.S. over the coming days.
In its daily weather forecast, Natgasweather.com reported that the current cool snap hasn't been significantly impressive, "but it will open the door for additional weather systems to impact the northern U.S. late this weekend and all of next week with unsettled weather and lower than normal cooling demand."
Demand for natural gas tends drop when temperatures fall in the summer, as households throttle back on their air conditioners.
Still, prices rose as investors bet hotter temperatures will return, as mild temperatures typical of fall are still months away for most of the U.S.
Supply data remained in focus.
This weekly’s supply data was expected to show that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 95 billion cubic feet in the week ended July 18.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.129 trillion cubic feet as of last week, narrowing the deficit to the five-year average to 25.5%, down from a record 54.7% at the end of March.
Injections of gas into storage have surpassed the five-year average for 13 consecutive weeks.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in September were up 0.49% at $102.89 a barrel, while heating oil for August delivery were up 0.40% at $2.8656 per gallon.