Natural gas futures traded lower at Rs 205.70 per mmBtu on March 4 as participants increased their short positions as seen by the open interest. Natural gas price had declined 0.8 percent on March 3 on the NYMEX.
It traded in the negative territory after a gap-down start in the afternoon session, tracking subdued global cues.
The commodity has been trading higher than 50, 100 and 200 days' moving averages but lower than 20 and 5 days’ moving average on a daily chart. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 48.30 which indicates neutral momentum in prices.
Natural gas traded weaker as market players’ position for weekly inventory report due later in the day.
Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities said, “International natural gas futures have started flat this Wednesday morning early afternoon in Asian trade ahead of the inventory data tonight. Technically, NYMEX Natural Gas could trade in a range of $2.60- $2.95 levels.”
MCX March Natural Gas hold resistance near Rs 211-Rs 214 levels and supports near Rs 206-Rs 204 levels, he said.
MCX iCOMDEX Natural Gas Index was down 21.08 points or 0.77 percent to 2,706.07.
In the futures market, natural gas for March delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 206 and an intraday low of Rs 203 per mmBtu on MCX. So far in the current series, natural gas has touched a low of Rs 175 and a high of Rs 222.20.
Natural gas delivery for February slipped by Rs 1.50, or 0.72 percent, to Rs 205.50 per mmBtu at 14:47 hours IST with a business turnover of 11,773 lots.
Natural gas delivery for April fell by Rs 1.80, or 0.86 percent, to Rs 208.20 per mmBtu with a business volume of 2,266 lots.
The value of March and April’s contracts traded so far is Rs 960.59 crore and Rs 58.79 crore, respectively.
Kshitij Purohit, Product Manager, Currency & Commodities, CapitalVia Global Research Limited said, “Natural gas has support at Rs 199 below it may come down to 192 levels. The resistance for the energy is Rs 213 above this natural gas can go towards Rs 216 levels.”
At 09:20 (GMT), the natural gas price was flat quoting at $2.81 per mmBtu in New York.
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