(Updates with settlement and spot prices.)

By Jason Womack
   Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Natural gas futures ended lower Wednesday as traders sold off contracts amid expectations for higher levels of natural gas in storage and mild temperatures.

Natural gas for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled 19.7 cents, or 4%, lower, at $4.725 a million British thermal units. The front-month contract sunk to as low as $4.719/MMBtu in earlier trading.