Investing.com - Natural gas prices carried Monday's gains into Tuesday in choppy trading on expectations that warm summertime temperatures will hike demand for air conditioning, though supply uncertainty pushed the commodity into negative territory at times.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in October were up 0.34% at $3.993 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading. The commodity hit a session low of $3.944, and a high of $4.019.
The October contract settled up 2.47% on Monday to end at $3.979 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 $4.020, the high from Aug. 12.
Updated weather forecasting models showed that above-normal temperatures will blanket most parts of the eastern and central U.S. through Sept. 4.
Supply uncertainty, however, allowed for choppy trading and pushed prices into negative territory at times.
Last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report on Aug. 21 that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 88 billion cubic feet in the week before, above expectations for an increase of 83 billion cubic feet.
Inventories rose by 58 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change is a build of 48 billion cubic feet.
Injections of gas into storage have surpassed the five-year average for 18 consecutive weeks, alleviating concerns over tightening supplies.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.555 trillion cubic feet as of last week, narrowing the deficit to the five-year average to 17.3% from 18.9% a week earlier and down from a record 54.7% at the end of March.
The EIA's next storage report is slated for release on Thursday, Aug. 28, with analysts expecting a build of 76 billion cubic feet for the week ending Aug. 22.
Inventories rose by 65 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change is a build of 58 billion cubic feet.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in October were up 0.25% at $93.58 a barrel, while heating oil for October delivery were up 0.12% at $2.8452 per gallon.