Forexpros – Natural gas futures plunged lower in U.S. trade Friday, as investors sold the heating fuel to lock in profits, following a rally which drove prices to a six-week high earlier in the week and weak U.S. payroll numbers increased global growth fears..
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in June traded at USD2.282 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning trade, giving back 2.48%.
Natural gas had rallied more that 16% earlier in the week, boosted by speculation that lower prices would lead to production cuts.
Profit taking combined with U.S. nonfarm payrolls advanced less-than-expected last month, official data showed on Friday.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported non-farm payrolls climbed to a seasonally adjusted 115K, from 154K in the preceding month whose figure was revised up from 120K.
Economists had expected U.S. non-farm payrolls to rise 170K last month.
Last week’s storage data from the U.S. EIA showed that natural gas storage rose by 47 billion cubic feet to 2.548 trillion, more than 52% above last year’s level and almost 56% higher than the five-year average for this time of year.
Meanwhile, concerns remained that production cuts have not significantly slowed pipeline flows, which are still hovering near record levels.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in June plunged 3.41% to trade at USD99.03 a barrel.
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