By CountingPips.com
The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures speculators increased their short positions against the US dollar for a third consecutive week. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were overall net short the US dollar by $25.14 billion against other major currencies as of June 14th, according to a report published by Reuters. The data is a rise from the total short position of $22.98 billion registered on June 7th, according to the CFTC COT data and calculations by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian will dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.
This week’s notable changes were Mexican peso positions decreasing to their lowest level since September 2010 while New Zealand dollar positions rose to their highest level since November 2010.
EuroFx: Currency speculators slightly cut their net long positions for the euro against the U.S. dollar as of June 14th. Euro futures positions edged lower to a total of 49,894 long contracts following a total of 51,836 long positions on June 7th.
The COT report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions as of the previous Tuesday. It can be a useful tool for traders to gauge investor sentiment and to look for potential changes in the direction of a currency or commodity. Each currency contract is a quote for that currency directly against the U.S. dollar, where as a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and net long position expect that currency to rise versus the dollar. The graphs overlay the forex spot closing price of each Tuesday when COT trader positions are reported for each corresponding spot currency pair.
GBP: British pound sterling positions improved for a third consecutive week as of June 14th and turned over to the long side for the first time since May 10th. Pound contracts increased to a total of 11,226 net long positions as of June 14th following a total of 1,700 short contracts on June 7th.
JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts rose for a second consecutive week to a total of 24,768 net long contracts reported on June 14th following a total of 17,631 net long contracts on June 7th. This is the highest total for yen positions since late March.
CHF: Swiss franc long positions decreased for a second straight week as of June 14th. Franc positions fell to a total of 13,287 net long contracts following a net of 16,865 long contracts on June 7th.
CAD: The Canadian dollar positions rebounded last week after falling to their lowest level since September of 2010 on June 7th. CAD positions increased to a total of 18,855 long contracts on June 14th following a total of 13,522 long contracts on June 7th.
AUD: The Australian dollar long positions rose higher for a fourth consecutive week. AUD contracts increased to a total net amount of 67,670 long contracts as of June 14th. AUD positions had totaled 65,205 net long contracts on June 7th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions rose for a fourth consecutive week to the highest level all year. NZD contracts advanced to a total of 19,218 long positions as of June 14th from a total of 16,004 long contracts on June 7th and to the highest level for kiwi speculative positions since November 2010.
MXN: Mexican peso net long contracts decreased sharply and for a third straight week to the lowest level since September 2010. MXN contracts fell to 48,163 net long contracts as of June 14th from a total of 90,198 long contracts as of June 7th.
COT Data Summary as of June 14, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar
EUR: +49894
GBP: +11226
JPY: +24768
CHF: +13287
CAD: +18855
AUD: +67670
NZD: +19218
MXN: +48163
