* Nordic spot price for Friday seen unchanged
* Front-quarter trades in a tight range
OSLO, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Nordic spot power prices were expected to remain steady as colder weather was likely to to support consumption, while lower hydro inflows allow hydro power producers to get better control of prices, analysts said on Thursday.
The Nordic average day-ahead power price
for
Friday's delivery was expected to remain steady at 32.6 euros a megawatt-hour (MWh) on the Nordic power exchange Nord Pool Spot, analysts at Point Carbon said.
Hydro inflows into Nordic water reservoirs and rivers were expected to fall by 3,030 MW on Friday easing pressure on the hydro power plants to generate electricity at low cost to avoid overflooding.
Norway's 1,120 MW Sima, the second largest hydro power plant in the Nordic countries, was producing at only 20 percent of full capacity, Live Power Intelligence, which monitors real time production output from Nordic power plants said.
Sweden's 1,400 MW Oskarshamn-3 reactor, the biggest in the Nordic countries, is expected to be back to full capacity on Friday after testing on Thursday.
Wind power output in Denmark and Sweden was expected to remain steady, while the Nordic average temperature is forecasted to fall by 1.4 degrees Celsius.
The day ahead-contract in the financial market was last traded at 33 euros a MWh.
FORWARD PRICES
The contract for baseload (24 hours) power delivery in the first quarter
was trading down 5 cents to 41.35 euros a MWh by 1000 GMT compared to Wednesday's close.
The contract has been trading in a tight range of 41.3 and 41.4 since the beginning of the week in a thin market.
"We see less activity due to Norwegian autumn holiday, that also affects the trading," a Norway-based trader said.
"It's also hard to take a stand on one direction when weather forecasts are mixed. Those two factors results in the market going sideways," he added.
The Nordic region relies on hydroelectric power for more than 50 percent of its power generation, and changes in precipitation is an important factor in setting prices, but the latest weather forecasts did not provide a clear trend.
The Nordic contract for baseload power delivery next year
was up by 5 cents to 37.30 euros a MWh.
Both European carbon , coal API2 2013 futures
, and Brent crude firmed on Thursday.
Brent crude rose over $109 per barrel as expectations that Spain would seek a bailout and better U.S. data encouraged investors back into riskier assets such as oil and commodities.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; editing by Keiron Henderson)
((nerijus.adomaitis@thomsonreuters.com)(+47 9027 6699 Reuters Messaging: nerijus.adomaitis.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))
Keywords: MARKETS NORDIC/ELECTRICITY