N.Y. Natural Gas Futures Moving Toward $5: Technical Analysis
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By Reg Curren
June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Natural gas futures are heading toward $5 per million British thermal units as price support builds for the power-plant and industrial fuel, according to a technical analysis by Chris Jarvis, president of Caprock Risk Management LLC.
The futures contract has rallied and retreated three times since dropping to $3.155 per million Btu on April 27, the lowest in more than six years. Gas now has established a support line that may push prices into a range of $5 to $5.20, Jarvis said in a telephone interview.
“Natural gas could be coiling for a move higher,” said Jarvis, who is based in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, and is a chartered market technician. “The $3.60-to-$3.80 area has been a big area of support and we’re holding that again. The longer we stay down here, to me, the bigger the upside move.”
Jarvis said gas will have to break through an area of resistance at $4.38 and then $4.575, the latter of which was a three-month high reached on May 13, before reaching his target price this summer.
Natural gas for July delivery rose 10.5 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $3.949 per million Btu on June 26, its last day of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are down 71 percent since reaching a 2008 high of $13.694 per million Btu on July 2.
Moving averages, an indicator watched by some technical traders, also appear set to turn higher, another bullish signal for natural gas, Jarvis said. Gas last week closed above the 50- day average, which has reached about $3.84 per million Btu.
“The 50-day moving average is starting to turn up and the 100-day is starting to make that same move,” he said.
Technical traders monitor patterns on daily charts for clues to price direction, and may sell or buy based on those signals. The moving average shows the average value of a security or commodity over time.