By Reg Curren Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Natural gas gained for a fifth day in New York on speculation a glut will be eliminated as below- normal temperatures forecast for the U.S. this winter increase demand for the heating fuel. Futures have more than doubled since reaching a seven-year closing low of $2.508 per million British thermal units on Sept. 3 as private forecasters predicted colder-than-normal winter weather. Meteorologists at Commodity Weather Group, WSI Corp. and AccuWeather.com have in recent weeks issued outlooks for a harsh cold-weather season. “If we get some cold weather, or something fundamentally to give it a little push, then maybe the bulls will get the run they’ve been hoping for,” said Brad Florer, a trader at Kottke Associates Inc., a commodity futures broker in Louisville, Kentucky. “If we get some severe cold and any recovery in demand at all, you could get back into a situation where gas is coming out faster than anticipated and people get nervous.” Natural gas for November delivery rose 5.4 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $5.215 per million British thermal units at 10:06 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The futures contract advanced 6.7 percent yesterday. Inventories reached an all-time high 3.716 trillion cubic feet in the week ended Oct. 9, an Energy Department report last week showed. Supplies may rise another 20 billion cubic feet in the government’s next report, due tomorrow, based on the median of seven analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Technical analysis of recent price movement indicates a bullish bias, Florer said. “The bulls will feel pretty comfortable as long as we’re above $5,” he said. “The longer we continue to move with this sideways or upward bias, the chart is putting a nice bottom in with an upward curve. You could see $5.50 or $5.40; that would be a natural area to test.”

Source