Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures fell to a more than one-week low on Friday, as weather forecasts calling for a break in a heat wave pushed down prices.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas for delivery in July hit a session low of $4.516 per million British thermal units, the weakest level since June 11, before settling at $4.531 by close of trade, down 1.16%, or 5.3 cents.
Futures were likely to find support at $4.504 per million British thermal units, the low from June 11 and resistance at $4.700, the high from June 19.
Nymex natural gas prices lost 4.38%, or 20.8 cents on the week, the first weekly decline in four weeks.
Updated weather-forecasting models called for a break in a heat wave across portions of the central U.S., which pressured prices lower. Still, the southern U.S. will remain warm, which prevented the commodity from falling too far.
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.
Weekly supply data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration released Thursday showed that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 113 billion cubic feet, above forecasts for an increase of 110 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 1.719 trillion cubic feet as of last week, nearly 29.1% below their level this time last year and 33.1% below the five-year average.
Natural gas stockpiles have grown by more than 100 billion cubic feet for six consecutive weeks, a record streak since 1994. Producers would need to add approximately 2.6 trillion cubic feet to storage by November 1 to meet typical winter demand, analysts said.
Data from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission released Friday showed that hedge funds and money managers increased their bullish bets in natural gas futures in the week ending June 17.
Net longs totaled 83,116 contracts, up 8.3% from net longs of 76,196 in the previous week.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, crude oil for August delivery settled at $106.83 a barrel by close of trade on Friday, up 0.61%, or 66 cents a barrel, on the week.
Meanwhile, heating oil for July delivery rallied 2.25% on the week to settle at $3.054 per gallon by close of trade Friday.