Natural-gas futures pared earlier gains, but finished higher Thursday after government data showed that supplies of the heating fuel fell by a record amount last week on frigid temperatures. Natural gas for February delivery climbed 5.7 cents, or 1.3%, to $4.382 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and posted the highest settlement since Dec. 30. Prices had risen as much as 3.9% earlier in the session, approaching the 2 1/2-year high of $4.532/mmBtu set in December, as weather forecasts called for another cold snap in late January. However, futures pulled back from that level as traders elected to book profits from a sharp 12% runup over the past week. Market participants were also somewhat disappointed that the amount of gas withdrawn from storage tanks fell short of analysts’ expectations. In the report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said natural-gas inventories fell by 287 […]