Natural gas futures rose to Rs 139 per mmBtu on July 29 as participants increased their long positions. Gas price gained 4.4 percent on the NYMEX on July 28.

The commodity has been supported by hot weather in parts of the US, increased storm activity in the Gulf of Mexico and expectation of marginal rise in gas stocks.

In the futures market, natural gas for August delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 139.60 and a low of Rs 138.40 per mmBtu on the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX). So far in the current series, natural gas has touched a low of Rs 121.40 and a high of Rs 159.40.

Natural gas futures for July delivery jumped Re 1, or 0.72 percent, to Rs 139.10 per mmBtu at 14:39 hours IST on a business turnover of 12,222 lots. The same for September delivery gained Rs 0.6, or 0.4 percent, at Rs 150.3 per mmBtu on a business volume of 1,139 lots.

The value of August and September contracts traded so far is Rs383.01 crore and Rs 10.05 crore, respectively.

Natural gas may witness choppy trade ahead of contract expiration and inventory report, but general bias maybe on the downside owing to well supplied US market, Kotak Securities said in a recent report.

At 09:12 (GMT), the natural gas price was down 0.64 percent at $1.85 per mmBtu in New York.