NYMEX June natural gas futures were seeking direction in overnight US trading as buying at lows was met with downward pressure from fundamentals.
At 6:35 am EDT (1035 GMT) the contract was 2.3 cents higher at $2.764/MMBtu after trading a $2.732-$2.773/MMBtu range.
Recent weather and the medium-term weather outlooks indicate weak demand, combined with robust production implied by a steadily rising rig count, will feed expectations of additional builds to storage after the delayed onset of the injection season.
National Weather Service forecasts for both the six-to 10-day and eight- to 14-day periods show above-average temperatures enveloping nearly the entire US, confining the scope of average temperatures to a small patch of the Rockies into the Midwest in the shorter-range view and a few areas of Texas further out.
