The NYMEX August natural gas futures contract was up 0.9 cent to $2.908/MMBtu at 8:47 am EDT (1247 GMT) Thursday on hot weather and expectations of a supportive storage report Friday.
The contract, which climbed as much as 5.8 cents overnight, was trading in heavy volume due to "strong seasonal demand fundamentals and expectations of a well-below average storage injection," according to TFS Energy Futures.
The contract settled 7.5 cents higher on Tuesday on short-covering.
Tim Evans, an analyst with Citi Futures Perspective, said persistent heat throughout much of the US will likely keep prices from dropping, but the market is "only a break in the heat wave away from a downside test."
"In that regard, for all of the longer term speculation about drilling rates and supply, in the near term natural gas remains a classic weather-driven market," Evans said.
The contract was trading between $2.885/MMBtu and $2.957/MMBtu.
