Natural gas falls ahead of inventory report

Natural gas tumbled today ahead of the Energy Information Administrations gas reserves report, published weekly on Thursday at 14:30 GMT. Gas futures rallied on Wednesday on sentiment that temperatures will rise, which boosts the fuels demand.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas for July delivery slipped 0.76% to trade at $3.971 per million British thermal units. The fuel hit a session low at $3.963 and a high at $4.003 per million British thermal units.

According to a survey done by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos, the EIAs report should show the Natural Gas Storage indicator rose by 93 to 97 billion cubic feet in the week ending May 31. This is significantly above the same week last year, when gas inventories rose by 63 billion cubic feet, but is near the five-year average of 92 billion cubic feet.

During the preceding week, stockpiles rose by 88 billion cubic feet, when the U.S. Natural Gas Storage totaled 2.141 trillion cubic feet, 4% below the five-year average.

Despite forecasts of milder temperatures throughout the U.S. on Wednesday, June weather is still expected to be above-the-normal warmer. Natural gas demand tends to surge in the summer months because higher temperatures increase the need for gas-powered electricity to power air conditioning.

Elsewhere on the market, Brent oil remained steady through the day and circled around $103 a barrel. Brent crude for July delivery traded at $103.20 at 13:07 GMT, marking a 0.13% gain on the day. WTI crude futures for July delivery showed a more moderate expansion and stood at $94.40 a barrel at 13:09 GMT, jumping 0,79% for the day. The Initial Jobless Claims indicator, at which eyes were focused as an early hint for tomorrows U.S. labor data mismatched forecasts by little, but didnt play an important role in oil pricing. Jobless claims fell to 346 000 for the week ending June 2, down from 357 000 the preceding week, but still 1 000 more than the 345 000 decrease expectation.