By Myra P. Saefong
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Natural-gas futures pared losses Thursday after the Energy Information Administration reported that inventories of the commodity rose less than expected, by 21 billion cubic feet for the week ended Nov. 2. Analysts polled by Platts expected a climb of between 26 billion cubic feet and 30 billion. Total stocks now stand at 3.929 trillion cubic feet, up 109 billion cubic feet from the year-ago level and 244 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. December natural gas NGZ12 -0.22% was nearly flat at $3.58 per million British thermal units. It was trading around $3.53 shortly before the data.
