Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Natural gas rose for a fifth day in New York amid forecasts for unusually chilly weather in the U.S. East that may boost heating demand.

Futures for December delivery climbed as much as 19.2 cents, or 5 percent, to $4.065 per million British thermal units in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and were at $4.044 at 11:27 a.m. London time. The contract gained 6.9 percent last week, the most since February. Prices fell 6 percent in October and are down 4.4 percent this year.

Volume for all futures traded was six times higher than the 100-day average today. Colder weather is predicted in parts of the U.S. over the next three weeks. Chicago's low on Nov. 11 will drop to 23 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 5 Celsius), 14 below the historical average, Accuweather Inc. said on its website.

"As of Friday's close, we have switched our daily bias from neutral to bullish," Stephen Schork, the president of Schork Group Inc., a consultant in Villanova, Pennsylvania, said in an e-mailed report today.

An estimated 49 percent of U.S. households use gas for heating, led by the Midwest and the Northeast, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

Stockpiles of the heating and power-plant fuel have climbed 2.658 trillion cubic feet since dropping to an 11-year low in March, the fastest pace of injections for the period in EIA data going back to 1994. A supply deficit to the five-year average has narrowed to 8.2 percent from a record 55 percent.