CN:Natural gas rallies to 4-day high on warm weather outlook
Forexpros - Natural gas futures were up on Tuesday, jumping to a four-day high as significantly warmer-than-normal weather in most parts of the U.S. next week boosted demand expectations for the fuel.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for August delivery traded at USD4.357 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning trade, jumping 1.75%.
It earlier rose as much as 1.85% to trade at USD4.364 per million British thermal units, the highest price since June 22.
Natural gas prices have gained nearly 4.7% since dropping to a one-month low of USD4.153 last Thursday.
Industry weather group MDA Federal said on Friday that it expected "unseasonably" hot temperatures to return to the U.S. Great Lakes and mid-Atlantic region next week.
In a report, MDA said that the weather "has finally taken a step in the warmer direction after largely trending cooler during the past week."
Meanwhile, the Commodity Weather Group said that July was likely to be warmer than previously thought, though not as hot as last summer when above-average heat lifted demand for gas to power air conditioners to almost record levels.
In its seasonal outlook published earlier in the day, the weather group said, "Our updated July outlook shows above-average heat as the calendar continues to shed cooling degree days."
Elsewhere, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Monday that there was a 30% chance that a "broad area of low pressure" over Mexico's Bay of Campeche could become a tropical cyclone within the next 48 hours.
Production in federal waters in the Gulf accounts for about 10% of natural gas output, and prices typically spike when storms threaten production.
Meanwhile, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in August jumped 1.05% to trade at USD91.75 a barrel, while heating oil for August delivery surged 2.05% to trade at USD2.842 per gallon during U.S. morning trade.
