--Nymex gas down 0.2% at $3.465/MMBtu --Natural-gas prices pressured by expectations of mild weather through mid-August --Analysts expect inventory build to continue By Sarah Jacob NEW YORK--Natural-gas futures edged lower Tuesday, as forecasts for cooler temperatures across large parts of the U.S. prompted concerns of a drop in demand for the fuel. Natural gas for September delivery was down 0.7 cent, or 0.2%, to recently trade at $3.465 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the fifth consecutive session of losses for natural gas, which settled at a five-month low on Monday. Traders are selling the futures as forecasters continue to call for milder weather in the central and eastern U.S., key gas-consuming regions, in the coming weeks. "There are still no signs of notable heat through the next two weeks (and through much of August for that matter) in the Midwest," private weather forecaster Commodity Weather Group LLC said in a report Tuesday. Hot weather would spur the use of air conditioning, causing utilities to rev up gas-fired electricity production. Analysts expect the cooler-than-usual weather pattern to lead to an increase in natural-gas inventories. "An above-average inventory build is thus likely in the next few weeks, which will probably see U.S. natural-gas stocks rise above the long-term average again for the first time since March," said analysts at Commerzbank in a note. The U.S. Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release weekly gas-storage data on Thursday. Last week, the EIA reported a 41 billion-cubic-foot increase in gas inventories, slightly below market expectations. Write to Sarah Jacob at sarahann.jacob@dowjones.com

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