Investing.com - Natural gas carried Monday's losses into Tuesday after updated weather-forecasting models continued to call for mild temperatures to hover over the U.S. in the coming days, which should curb demand for heating.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in January were down 3.18% at $3.880 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading. The commodity hit a session low of $3.862, and a high of $4.031.
The January contract settled down 1.89% on Monday to end at $4.007 per million British thermal units.
Natural gas futures were likely to find support at $3.620 per million British thermal units, the low from Oct. 28, and resistance at $4.529, last Wednesday's high.
Forecasts for milder temperatures to stick around for the coming days once a cold snap pushes out pressured prices lower,.
"By later this week temperatures will become seasonally stratified from north to south through the weekend with chilly air across the far northern U.S. and very mild temperatures over the southern U.S. There will be additional weather systems to follow next week that still have potential to tap into much colder Canadian air, although the latest weather and climate data suggests the potential for frigid Arctic air is decreasing," Natgasweather.com reported in its Tuesday midday update.
While cooler weather may make its return, most of the U.S. will continue to see mild mercury readings.
"Simply put; weather patterns are not looking cold enough to expect future draws to be close to normal due to much of the U.S. becoming unseasonably warm in a mild but active pattern. This clearly would provide bearish weather sentiment for the nat gas markets," Natgasweather.com added.
Bearish speculators are betting on the mild weather to dampen demand for the heating fuel. The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said last week that natural gas storage in the U.S. fell by 162 billion cubic feet in the week before, surpassing expectations for a decline of 150 billion.
The five-year average change for the week is a drop of 6 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.432 trillion cubic feet as of last week, 9.2% below year-ago levels and nearly 10.4% below the five-year average for this time of year.
The Energy Information Administration's next storage report is slated for release on Thursday, Dec. 4, with analysts expecting a decline of 47 billion cubic feet for the week ending Nov. 28.
The five-year average change for the week is a decrease of 50 billion cubic feet. Stockpiles fell by 141 billion in the same week a year earlier.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in January were down 1.75% at $67.79 a barrel, while heating oil for January delivery were down 1.82% at $2.1721 per gallon.