Natural gas closed higher for a second-straight session with traders hesitant to keep selling so close to the peak season for demand, analysts said. The front-month January contract settled up 5.4 cents, or 1.5%, at $3.706 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have bounced up 3% since they closed near their low for 2014 on Monday. Record production and mild December forecasts caused a near bear market in the last three weeks as traders have expected supply to overwhelm demand for home heating. But hitting a yearly low in December is rare and prices are so low they could start to draw more buyers from the power sector, analysts and brokers said. “I think the market’s searching for a bottom,” said Frank Clements, co-owner of Meridian Energy Brokers Inc. outside New York. Many who sold loaned contracts, betting that prices […]