Natural gas prices fall as investors lock in profits and sell

Natural gas prices fell on Friday after investors locked in gains from Thursday's rally and sold the commodity for profits.

Prices shot up on Thursday after official U.S. data revealed stockpiles rose less than markets were expecting.

In the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in July traded at USD3.763 per million British thermal units, down 1.35%.

The commodity hit a session low of USD3.754 and a high of USD3.832.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report on Thursday that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ended June 7 rose by 95 billion cubic feet, below market expectations for an increase of 96 billion.

Inventories rose by 66 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week is a rise of 84 billion cubic feet.

Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.347 trillion cubic feet as of last week. Stocks were 587 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 58 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 2.405 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.

The report showed that in the East Region, stocks were 102 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, following net injections of 57 billion cubic feet. 

Stocks in the Producing Region were 2 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 915 billion cubic feet after a net injection of 25 billion cubic feet.

The data sent prices gaining to levels ripe for profit taking on Friday, as did forecasts for temperatures to rise to above-normal levels for late June.

Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in July were up 1.08% and trading at USD97.73 a barrel, while heating oil futures for July delivery were up 0.93% at USD2.9667 per gallon.