• Natural Gas prints mild gains, struggling to defend corrective bounce off six-week-old horizontal support zone.
• Bearish MACD signals, U-turn from 50-SMA keeps sellers hopeful.
• XNG/USD bulls need to cross $2.75-77 zone to retake control.

Natural Gas (XNG/USD) remains pressured around $2.67 despite posting minor intraday gains during early Friday morning in Asia. In doing so, the energy instrument stays defensive after fading the bounce off the six-week-old horizontal support zone.

That said, the XNG/USD’s failure to cross the 50-SMA during the previous day’s corrective bounce joins the bearish MACD signals and sustained trading below the support-turned-resistance line stretched from June 12 to keep sellers hopeful.

However, the aforementioned horizontal support area comprising multiple levels marked since May 16, around $2.61-60, appears a tough nut to crack for the Natural Gas bears.

Even if the Natural Gas Price drops below $2.60, the 100-SMA support of near $2.59 and the monthly horizontal region surrounding $2.43-44 could challenge the XNG/USD bears before giving them control.

On the contrary, the 50-SMA caps the immediate upside of the Natural Gas Price near $2.73.

Following that, a convergence of the two-week-old previous support line, the weekly descending resistance line and multiple levels marked during June 19-20 together constitute $2.75-77 as a tough nut to crack for the XNG/USD bulls.

In a case where the Natural Gas Price remains firmer past $2.77, the odds of witnessing the fresh monthly high, currently around $2.93, can’t be ruled out.

Natural Gas Price: Four-hour chart

Trend: Further downside expected