The Hindu Business Line : Natural gas futures dip 14%

Mumbai, Aug. 21 Natural Gas shed nearly 14 per cent during the second trading session of Monday and early session on Tuesday. The September expiry contract of the Multi Commodity Exchange was trading at Rs 253.50 per mmbtu from the previous Rs 280 per mmbtu. Natural gas prices are bleeding as Hurricane Dean formed last week in the US has missed hitting the oil platforms in Gulf of Mexico, thereby easing supply disruptions, said Mr Tejas Shah, Research Analyst at STCI Commodities.

On the NYMEX, Natural gas September contract was quoted at $5.9 per mmbtu down from $ 7 per mmbtu. Traders on the NYMEX are at record net short positions, said Mr Shah.

Metals bearish

Continuing with the bearish trend, base metals prices were in sync with the global financial markets.

The entire base metals complex was weak owing to the weakness in the global economy being demonstrated by the liquidity crunch, said Mr Shah. Also technically the charts were indicating bearish trend, he added.

Copper August contract was traded at Rs 284.80 per kg down from Rs 288.45 on MCX.

The three-month forward copper on the London Metal Exchange was quoted at $6980 per tonne.

Zinc was traded at Rs. 124 per kg down from Rs. 127.55 per kg on MCX.

Despite the nearing expiry of the base metals contract, traders were not expected to cover their short positions and could close the contracts with the Due Date Rate or the final settlement rate, said Mr Shah. Adding to the bearishness, there had been news that China has increased its lending and deposit rates, he added.

The bullion trade in the international market remained pretty much subdued after a minor recovery that followed a great fall.

Gold was quoted at $655.40 an ounce while silver was quoted at $11.64 an ounce in the London spot market. Following a similar trend standard gold (99.50 purity) in the local market was quoted at Rs 8805 per 10 gms and Silver (.999 fineness) was quoted at 16920 per kg.

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