Considering advanced figures from CME Group for natural gas futures markets, open interest dropped for the second session in a row on Thursday, this time by around 2.5K contracts. Volume, instead, went up sharply by nearly 364K contracts, offsetting the previous daily pullback.
Prices of natural gas rose markedly on Thursday and clinched multi-day highs near the $2.60 zone. The pronounced uptick, however, was amidst shrinking open interest and volume and could prompt some corrective move in the very near term. In the meantime, the May high near $2.70 per MMBtu (May 19) emerges as the immediate target for bulls.