Natural gas futures trade flat in the afternoon session

Natural gas futures traded steady on October 20 as participants rolled over their long positions as seen by open interest. Gas price had soared 1.98 percent the previous day on the NYMEX.

The energy commodity pared earlier losses to trade marginally in the red t midday, tracking a weaker global trend.

On the MCX, natural gas delivery for October modestly dipped Rs 0.10, or 0.03 percent, to Rs 379.70 per mmBtu at 2.46 pm with a business turnover of 5,045 lots.

Gas delivery for November gained by Rs 0.10, or 0.2 percent, to Rs 400.50 with a business volume of 3,386 lots.

The value of October and November contracts traded, so far, stood at Rs 604.28 crore and Rs 140.02 crore, respectively.

MCX Enrgdex declined by 66 points or 1.03 percent at 6,360 at 2.48pm. The index tracks the real-time performance of MCX Crude Oil and MCX Natural Gas futures.

“Natural gas has shown marginal positive movement in the last session. Amid a regional energy crisis, Russia has hinted that it may not offer additional natural gas to European consumers. Concerns over natural gas supply have resurfaced, fueling hopes that the energy market will need to boost oil demand. The energy has support at Rs 350 whereas resistance is at Rs 390 levels,” said Kshitij Purohit, Product Manager, Currency & Commodities, CapitalVia Global Research Limited. 

Market participants will take further cues from the Department of Energy weekly inventory scheduled to be released on October 21.

Technicals

The commodity has been trading higher than 50, 100, and 200-day simple and exponential moving averages but lower than the 5 and 20 days SMA and EMA on the daily chart. The momentum indicator Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 45.67, which indicates a weaker movement in price.