MW: Natural gas extends gains after inventories data
By Moming Zhou
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Natural-gas futures extended gains Thursday after the Energy Information Administration reported U.S. natural gas inventories rose 90 billion cubic feet last week, smaller than some analysts had expected. Some analysts surveyed by energy information provider Platts had projected a buildup as big as 106 billion cubic feet. After the data, August natural gas futures rose 17.9 cents, or 5.5%, to $3.462 per million British thermal units. It was up less than 3% before the data. At 2,886 billion cubic feet, stocks were 589 billion cubic feet higher than last year at this time and 454 billion cubic feet above the five-year average.
