Aug 22 (Reuters) - Dutch and British wholesale gas prices inched up on Thursday morning after some contracts hit fresh 2-week lows on Wednesday.
The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 was up 0.12 euro at 37.28 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or 12.17 $/mmBtu by 0847 GMT, according to LSEG data.
On Wednesday, the contract closed at its lowest level since Aug. 6.
The Dutch day-ahead contract TRNLTTFD1 was up 0.48 euro at 36.78 euros/MWh.
In the British market, the day-ahead contract TRGBNBPD1 was up 0.75 pence at 85.00 pence per therm.
"It is too early to conclude that the bullish trend is over, but it is clearly challenged," analysts at Engie EnergyScan said in a morning report.
After initially trading flat on Wednesday, prices dropped once the U.S. market opened, which saw a further trimming of long positions and profit taking, LSEG analyst Wayne Bryan said.
"Even the revision of some Gassco maintenance including brinGing Karsto forward failed to spark any bullish interest with storage refilling at 90% and on a solid trajectory ahead of winter," he added.
European gas storages have reached 90.29% full, having hit a a Nov. 1 target two months early, Gas Infrastructure Europe data showed.
Norwegian planned maintenance schedules will cut pipeline deliveries by nearly 50% for most of September, data from infrastructure operator Gassco showed.
Meanwhile, geopolitical risk premiums over peace talks for Gaza and Russian gas flows through Ukraine continue to dwindle, but developments still needed monitoring, LSEG's Bryan said.
Gas continues to flow into Ukraine via the border point of Sudzha and Russia's Gazprom GAZP.MM said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, unchanged from Wednesday.
Meanwhile, investment funds continued to extend their net long positions last week, analysts at ING said.
"This leaves significant downside risk to the market, particularly if supply risks fail to translate to actual supply losses," they added.
In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract CFI2Zc1 eased 0.16 euro to 71.98 euros a metric ton.
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