Natural Gas looking for direction with markets assessing  Beryl’s impact

• Natural Gas is steady and trades sideways in a tight range. 
• Traders are looking for good news out of Freeport, where production should reopen.  
• The US Dollar index trades flat above 105.00 and looks for direction after a boring Powell speech. 

Natural Gas price (XNG/USD) is unable to extend the bounce it triggered on Monday and trades steady in a tight range on Wednesday. The more than ten-day correction finally snapped after Natural Gas reached a pivotal level at $2.29 and has been afloat since then. Traders are on the lookout for any news from the Freeport production plant in the US after storm Beryl forced to reduce production sharply to only 20%, creating uncertainty about Gas deliveries for Europe and other parts of the world. 

Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback’s value against six major currencies, is also having some issues. US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell was unable to deliver anything new in his semi-annual testimony before the US Congress. Traders are facing boredom in hearing the same repeated message again that it is too early to cut interest rates. 

Natural Gas is trading at $2.37 per MMBtu at the time of writing.  

Natural Gas news and market movers: All eyes on US exports

• Traders are looking for clues about whether the Freeport plant in Texas can reopen back in full after it had to reduce production due to storm Beryl passing in the region, according to Reuters.
• China demand might remain curbed at current Gas prices, with Chinese traders only interested in buying contracts below $2.00, according to Bloomberg. 
• Newsbase reports that the US Treasury Department has extended authorization to export and re-export Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to Venezuela until July 8, 2025. 

Natural Gas Technical Analysis: More is needed for a bounce

Natural Gas price has bounced right off the support level FXStreet mentioned in previous articles at $2.29 on Monday, with the 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) alongside the green ascending trend line in the chart below as support. The bounce, though, is not really playing out as Gas prices are rather going sideways. Markets will await a catalyst to either retest that support again or send Gas prices higher.  

The 200-day SMA is the first force to reckon with on the upside, near $2.51, closely followed by the 55-day SMA at $2.62. Once back above, the pivotal level near $3.08 (March 6, 2023, high) remains key resistance after its false break last week. 

On the other hand, the support level, which could mean some buying opportunities, is $2.29, the 100-day SMA that falls in line with the ascending trend line since mid-February. In case that level does not hold as support, look for the pivotal level near $2.13, which has acted as a cap and floor in the past. 

Natural Gas: Daily Chart