Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures traded near a two-week low during U.S. morning trade on Tuesday, 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 November fell to a session low of $3.869 per million British thermal units, a level not seen since September 24.
Prices recovered to last trade at $3.911 during U.S. morning hours, up 1.3 cents, or 0.32%.
A day earlier, natural gas prices plunged 14.1 cents, or 3.49%, to settle at $3.898.
Futures were likely to find support at $3.845 per million British thermal units, the low from September 24 and resistance at $4.000, the high from October 6.
Updated weather-forecasting models predicted that temperatures would be mostly normal or higher than usual in the lower 48 states from October 11 through October 15.
Bearish speculators are betting on the warm weather reducing early-winter demand for the heating fuel. The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly storage report slated for release on Thursday is expected to show an increase of 114 billion cubic feet for the week ending October 3.
Inventories rose by 91 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change is a build of 84 billion cubic feet.
Injections of gas into storage have surpassed the five-year average for 24 consecutive weeks, alleviating concerns over tightening supplies.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.100 trillion cubic feet as of last week, narrowing the deficit to the five-year average to 11.4% from a record 54.7% at the end of March.
Elsewhere on the Nymex, crude oil for delivery in November lost 86 cents, or 0.95%, to trade at $89.48 a barrel, while heating oil for November delivery dipped 0.84% to trade at $2.599 per gallon.