Natural-gas Futures Gain As EIA Reports Smaller-than-expected Climb In U.S. Supplies

Natural-gas futures gained more ground on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that supplies of the commodity rose 17 billion cubic feet for the week ended July 22. That was below the average rise of 27 billion cubic feet expected by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. Total stocks now stand at 3.294 trillion cubic feet, up 436 billion cubic feet from a year ago and 524 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, the government said. September natural gas rose 13.3 cents, or 5%, at $2.793 per million British thermal units from Wednesday's settlement. It traded at $2.73 before the data.