Investing.com - Natural gas futures rose for the first time in five days on Wednesday to bounce off the lowest level since mid-March, as traders looked ahead to Thursday’s closely-watched U.S. supply data to gauge the strength of demand from U.S. households. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in July traded at USD3.759 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning trade, up 0.9% on the day. It earlier rose by as much as 1% to hit a session high of USD3.762 per million British thermal units. Nymex gas prices fell to USD3.711 per million British thermal units on Tuesday, the weakest level since March 14, prompting market players to return to the market to seek cheap valuations. Early injection estimates for this Thursday’s storage data range from 90 billion cubic feet to 112 billion cubic feet, compared to a 66 billion cubic feet increase during the same week a year earlier. The five-year average for the week is a build of 84 billion cubic feet. Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.252 trillion cubic feet as of last week, 3% below the five-year average for this time of year. Meanwhile, an uncertain demand outlook limited gains. Weather forecasting models continued to point to above-normal temperatures across most of the U.S. over the next six-to-ten days, before giving way to below-normal temperatures later in June. Demand for natural gas tends to rise in the summer months as warmer temperatures increase the need for gas-fired electricity to power air conditioning. Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in July rose 0.65% to trade at USD96.00 a barrel, while heating oil for July delivery added 1% to trade at USD2.885 per gallon.

Source