Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures rose for the first time in four sessions on Wednesday, bouncing off the prior day's three-week low as market players looked ahead to weekly storage data to gauge supply and demand levels.
Natural gas for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose more than 3% to a session high of $3.228 per million British thermal units.
It was last at $3.169 by 9:40AM ET (14:40GMT), up 5.2 cents, or around 1.7%, after falling to $3.110 on Tuesday, a level not seen since January 10.
Futures lost 11.5 cents, or 3.6%, a day earlier. Prices of the fuel are down almost 7% so far this week amid forecasts for warmer weather in key regions across the U.S. during the next few weeks.
Natural gas markets have been volatile in recent weeks, changing course rapidly in response to shifting outlooks in short-term weather patterns.
Traders looked ahead to weekly storage data due on Thursday, which is expected to show a draw in a range between 83 and 94 billion cubic feet in the week ended January 27.
That compares with a withdrawal of 119 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, 152 billion a year earlier and a five-year average drop of 166 billion cubic feet.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 2.798 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 11.1% lower than levels at this time a year ago and less than 1% below the five-year average for this time of year.