Dutch and British wholesale prices dipped on Tuesday morning amid some profit taking but remain near their highest level so far this year as temperatures fell.

The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 was down 0.60 euro at 43.30 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $13.48/mmbtu, by 0918 GMT, LSEG data showed.

The Dutch day-ahead contract TRNLTTFD1 slipped 0.35 euros at 43.50 euros/MWh.

The British day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 fell by 0.50 pence to 110.00 p/therm.

“As prices are now trading close to their short-term technical highs, some financial participants holding long positions may decide to take their profits,” analysts at Engie EnergyScan said in a daily research note.

The front-month TTF price hit an intra-day high of 44.10 euros/MWh on Monday, its highest since December 1, LSEG data showed, driven by cooler temperatures and as weak output from wind farms drove gas demand from power plants.

“The overall fundamental picture is sideways-bullish as the market prices in these first signs of winter,” LSEG analyst Tim Crump said.

Cooler temperatures have seen Europe begin to withdraw gas stocks from storage, with storage in continuous net withdraw mode since November 3, analysts at Engie EnergyScan said.

Europe’s gas stores were 93.37 full, latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed.

Ongoing concerns over an expected end to a transit deal between Russia and Ukraine to transmit gas flows to Europe also hangs over the market.

Russian gas producer Gazprom GAZP.MM said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday, compared with 42.3 mcm on Monday.

In the European carbon market CFI2Zc1, the benchmark contract fell by 1.41 euro to 66.16 euros a metric ton.
Source: Reuters (Reporting By Susanna Twidale; editing by Nina Chestney)