Natural gas futures were trading at Rs 236.20 per mmBtu on February 17 after hitting a fresh intraday high for February series of Rs 239.80 on the MCX. Natural gas price had risen 3 percent yesterday on the NYMEX.

Natural gas erased gain after a gap up open in the afternoon session.

As per Refinitiv Eikon data, US daily natural gas production has fallen roughly 17 percent from the end of last week to 72.1 billion cubic feet per day on Wednesday.

Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities said, “International natural gas futures have started higher this Thursday morning and early afternoon trade supported by extremely cold weather conditions. Markets could look to the inventory data dues tonight for more cues.”

“Technically, NYMEX Natural Gas could trade in a range of $3.10-3.45 levels in the coming session. While MCX Natural gas has bounced back from Rs 221 levels indicating a positive momentum up to Rs 239-244 levels. Support is placed at Rs 233-229 levels”, he said.

MCX iCOMDEX Natural Gas Index was up 27.67 points or 0.96 percent to 2,920.82.

In the futures market, natural gas for February delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 239.80 and an intraday low of Rs 235 per mmBtu on MCX. So far in the current series, natural gas has touched a low of Rs 169 and a high of Rs 239.80.

Natural gas delivery for February gained Rs 0.30, or 0.13 percent, to Rs 236 per mmBtu at 14:32 hours IST with a business turnover of 15,491 lots.

Natural gas delivery for March soared Rs 2.20, or 1 percent, to Rs 221.80 per mmBtu with a business volume of 4,096 lots.

The value of February and March’s contracts traded so far is Rs 1,466.55 crore and Rs 52.11 crore, respectively.

Kshitij Purohit, Product Manager, Currency & Commodities, CapitalVia Global Research Limited said, “Natural gas traded positive because of frigid weather in Texas and larger part of US has generated strong demand for natural gas. The support for natural gas is at Rs 230 levels below it may come down to Rs 217 levels. While resistance for the energy is at Rs 242, above this natural gas can go towards Rs 247-250 zone.”