Investing.com - Natural gas futures were lower on Wednesday, as market players continued to monitor near-term weather forecasts to gauge the strength of demand ahead of the end of the winter heating season.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in April held in a range between $4.591 per million British thermal units and $4.721.
Nymex gas prices last traded at $4.610 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning hours, down 1.25%, or 5.8 cents.
The April contract rallied 3.9%, or 17.5 cents, on Tuesday to settle at $4.667 per million British thermal units.
Futures were likely to find support at $4.441 per million British thermal units, the low from February 27 and resistance at $4.736, the high from March 3.
Market analysts have warned that prices remain vulnerable in the near-term as the coldest part of the winter has effectively passed and below-normal temperatures in March mean less than they do in January and February.
Meanwhile, traders looked ahead to Thursday’s closely-watched supply report, amid expectations for a larger-than-average drop in U.S. natural gas inventories.
Early withdrawal estimates range from 140 billion cubic feet to 174 billion cubic feet, which is mostly above the year-ago draw of 149 billion cubic feet and well above the five-year average draw of 105 billion.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 1.348 trillion cubic feet as of last week, the lowest for this time of year since 2004, following a withdrawal of 95 billion cubic feet.
Natural gas prices rallied to a more than five-year high of $6.493 per million British thermal units on February 20 as frigid winter temperatures in the U.S. led households to burn a higher than normal amount of the fuel in furnaces to heat their homes.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption. Approximately 52% of U.S. households use natural gas for heating, according to the Energy Department.
Elsewhere on the Nymex, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in April shed 0.3% to trade at $103.04 a barrel, while heating oil for April delivery slumped 0.7% to trade at $3.019 per gallon.