Investing.com - Natural gas prices took a dive on Thursday after a widely-watched report revealed that U.S. inventories grew more last week than markets were anticipating.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in October were down 1.26% at $3.799 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading. The commodity hit a session low of $3.791, and a high of $3.879.
The October contract settled down 1.11% on Wednesday to end at $3.847 per million British thermal units.
Natural gas futures were likely to find support at $3.732 per million British thermal units, the low from Aug. 17, and resistance at $4.078, Tuesday's high.
The Energy Information Administration reported earlier that U.S. natural gas storage rose by 79 billion cubic feet in the week ending Aug. 29 from 75 billion cubic feet in the preceding month.
Analysts were expected a build of 73 billion cubic feet, and the greater-than-expected figure softened natural gas prices.
Stocks were 471 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 495 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 3.204 trillion cubic feet.
In the East Region, stocks were 228 billion cubic feet below the five-year average following net injections of 59 billion cubic feet.
Stocks in the Producing Region were 221 billion cubic feet below the 5-year average of 1.042 trillion cubic feet after a net injection of 10 billion cubic feet.
Stocks in the West Region were 46 billion cubic below the five-year average after a net addition of 10 billion cubic feet.
At 2.709 trillion cubic feet, total working gas is below the five-year historical range.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in October were down 0.82% at $94.76 a barrel, while heating oil for October delivery were down 0.68% at $2.8462 per gallon.