Natural gas futures dropped to Rs 175.70 per mmBtu on September 9 as participants increased their short position as seen by the open interest. Natural gas had declined 7.3 percent yesterday on NYMEX tracking sharp sell-off in crude price.

Natural gas price trade weaker as mixed weather forecast dented demand outlook.

In the futures market, natural gas for September delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 178.20 and an intraday low of Rs 173.30 per mmBtu on MCX. So far in the current series, natural gas has touched a low of Rs 131.30 and a high of Rs 203.

Natural gas delivery for September slipped Rs 4.80, or 2.66 percent, to Rs 175.70 per mmBtu at 15:07 hours IST with a business turnover of 15,495 lots.

Natural gas delivery for October was down Rs 2.50, or 1.17 percent at Rs 210.90 per mmBtu with a business volume of 1,965 lots.

The value of September and October contracts traded so far is Rs 1,116.77 crore and Rs 30.47 crore, respectively.

MCX Natural gas is likely to trade with a negative bias as long as Rs 180-182 is capped as resistance whereas support is placed at Rs 172-169, according to Motilal Oswal.