Natural gas hit 6-month lows on U.S. inventory report

                       Natural gas futures fell to six-month lows on Thursday after official data revealed U.S. stockpiles rose more than expected last week.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in August traded at $4.118 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading, down 1.26%. The commodity hit a session high of $4.189 and a low of $4.117.

The August contract settled down 0.81% on Wednesday to end at $4.170 per million British thermal units.

Natural gas futures were likely to find support at $3.953 per million British thermal units, the low from Jan. 10, and resistance at $4.356, Monday's high.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ending July 4 rose by 93 billion cubic feet, above expectations for an increase of 92 billion cubic feet.

The five-year average change for the week is an increase of 72 billion cubic feet.

Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.022 trillion cubic feet. Stocks were 653 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 769 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 2.791 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.

Meanwhile, updated weather-forecasting models called for cooler temperatures stick around parts of the heavily-populated Midwest and Northeast regions over the next five days.

Below-normal temperatures send natural gas prices falling this time of year by fueling expectations for households to throttle back on their air conditioning.

Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in August were up 0.61% at $102.92 a barrel, while heating oil for August delivery were up 0.98% at $2.8994 per gallon. investing.com