• Natural Gas prints the first daily loss in six amid market’s consolidation on Juneteenth holiday.
• Fears of China’s slowing economic recovery, hawkish Fed signal weigh on XNG/USD.
• Seventh consecutive fall in US Oil and Gas rig count puts a floor under the Natural Gas Price.

Natural Gas Price (XNG/USD) renews intraday low near $2.65 during the first negative daily performance in six. In doing so, the energy instrument reverses from the highest level in a month while taking a U-turn from the key resistance line stretched from March. It’s worth noting that the US Dollar’s rebound and pessimism about China weigh on the market sentiment and the XNG/USD price amid a sluggish start to the key week, mainly to the Juneteenth holiday in the US.

US Dollar Index (DXY) extends the previous day’s corrective bounce off the monthly low amid slightly downbeat sentiment and the hawkish Fed signals, while also ignoring the mixed US data flashed the previous day. With this, the greenback’s gauge versus the six major currency pair sticks to minor gains of around 102.36.

That said, headlines surrounding multiple banks cutting China’s growth forecasts recently challenged the market’s risk appetite and weighed on the XNG/USD price. On the same line could be the hawkish comments from the Fed policymakers, as well as the latest report from the US central bank to Congress.

Alternatively, news from the South China Morning Post (SCMP) quoted China State Council to trigger the week-start optimism by suggesting more stimulus from the Asian major, which in turn puts a floor under the Natural Gas Price. On the same line could be the receding fears of the US-China tussle as the key Diplomats from both nations are said to have held “candid and constructive talks” on their differences from Taiwan to trade, per Reuters.

Elsewhere, a seventh consecutive fall in the US Oil and Gas rig count,  by 8 to 687 in the week to June 16, the lowest since April 2022, per Reuters, also puts a floor under the XNG/USD price.

It’s worth noting that the holiday in the US stock and bond markets allows the traders to pare previous moves but the clear directions could be gained from Chairman Powell’s bi-annual testimony, as well as PMIs for June.

Technical analysis

Natural Gas Price reverses from a downward-sloping resistance line from March 03, around $2.71 by the press time, as RSI pokes the overbought region. The pullback moves, however, remain elusive unless breaking the 100-DMA support of around $2.44 at the latest.