Netherlands: TTF rises on bullish sentiment as new month approaches
The TTF extended the gains of the previous session on Thursday.
Bullish sentiment drawn from the NBP prevailed in a session described as very busy by many sources.
In the UK, prices rose because of a short system. Issues with Norwegian flows were raising strong concerns across the continent. "If issues with Norwegian imports to the UK sustain, any impact on the Interconnector volumes to the continent will affect the market strongly because they are so strong at the moment," one trader commented.
Above all, most people blamed Thursday's strong upward trend on the long weekend in the UK kicking-off on Thursday night, which has taken many players away from their desks.
This caused notably illogical moves on the four daily components of the Weekend contract. "Saturday is trading well below Sunday," one market participant commented, "This doesn't really make sense."
Another trader said: "Actually, there are not enough players in the market... and someone is playing around this low liquidity."
Finally, people closing their positions before the start of the new month next week helped boost liquidity, several observed. The start of the new month over the weekend materialized in active trading on May '11, which finished the session virtually at parity with the Day-ahead product.
On Monday, the prompt had fallen like a stone, a move several traders had expected to sustain over the rest of the week because of extra large supply on the continent, combined with low demand on the back of rising temperatures. However, prices started to rebound from Tuesday.
"The three days squeezed between the Easter and the royal wedding weekends have been much more eventful than expected by most," one source concluded.
Gains on the curve were blamed on bullish oil markets and bullish sentiment gripping European energy commodity, although several traders complained about low liquidity.
Day-ahead kicked off at €21.90/MWh, then nudged up steadily through the session. The contract was paid at €22.55/MWh on both sides of the close. This represented a gain of nearly one euro day on day. DL
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