* March DES ARA trades at $105/T
* Technicals point to end of downtrend
* Japan utilities buy spot Newcastle parcels
LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Freezing weather across
much of Europe boosted gas, coal and power futures prices on
Monday while technical indicators suggest that the downtrend of
the past few months may be over, utilities and traders said.
Physical coal prices, which tend to mirror moves in swaps on
a smaller scale, moved up by 20-50 cents a tonne, a rise of less
than 0.5 percent.
This winter has been the warmest for 30 years and has left
generators with higher stockpiles at import terminals and power
plants than they had anticipated but if the latest cold snap
lasts for a month, these stockpiles could reduce significantly,
they said.
“It’s all anticipation of what this cold weather could do to
demand and prices across the markets, it’s self-reinforcing,”
said Emmanuel Fages, analyst with Societe Generale in Paris.
“The cold snap, the euro’s stronger, it all helps,” he
added.
Rises in European power, gas and coal futures since late
last week have pushed all three through important technical
resistance markers, with the steepest rise seen in gas.
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