Continental gas prices edged slightly lower Tuesday, the first day of trading after the long Easter weekend, on relatively steady weather predictions and weak crude futures.
At midday UK time, Dutch TTF day-ahead prices were heard at Eur24.50/MWh, down 15 euro cents compared to the Tuesday price assessed at close Thursday.
Day-ahead prices at the neighboring German NetConnect and GASPOOL hubs for Tuesday were pegged flat to each other at Eur25.00/MWh at the close of business Thursday. At midday, Tuesday they were seen at Eur24.75/MWh and at Eur24.65/MWh, respectively. At the Austrian Baumgarten they were heard at Eur26.60/MWh, down by 15 euro cents.
"NetConnect day-ahead started trading at Eur25.20/MWh in the morning but has fallen a little bit," a trader said. "I think spot prices are finding their feet after the long weekend."
According to forecaster CustomWeather, Paris and Amsterdam will have normal temperatures for this time of the year until Sunday, while most of Germany will have warmer than average temperatures, with Berlin set to experience 16 C on Sunday.
On the forward curve, front-season contracts at the TTF were, at Eur28.50/MWh, seen near flat to Thursday's assessment of Eur28.45/MWh. In line with bearish sentiment in oil trading, which saw front-month Brent crude trade 99 cent lower at $121.68 a barrel earlier in the morning, Cal 13 contracts at the TTF were seen at Eur27.15/MWh, 20 euro cents down from Thursday's assessment.
