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 cut their overall US dollar bets last week for second week in a row.
Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, decreased their US dollar long positions to a total of $920.79 million on December 4th from a total long position of $8.01 billion on November 27th, according to the CFTC COT data and calculations by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.
Individual Currencies:
EuroFX: Currency speculator sentiment for the euro improved last week for a second straight week and to its highest level all year. Euro net short positions or bets against the currency declined to 32,795 contracts on December 4th from the previous week’s total of 66,693 net short contracts on November 27th. Euro positions are now at their best level since August 30th 2011 when positions were short by just 384 contracts.
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, a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and a 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 rose sharply last week and increased for a second straight week. British pound speculative positions rose to a total of 27,270 net long contracts on December 4th following a total of 10,278 net long contracts on November 27th. Last week’s total marks the second highest level all year after October 30’s total of 30,094 contracts.
JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts decreased sharply again last week for a third consecutive week and brought yen sentiment to its lowest level in at least three years. Japanese yen positions declined to a total of 90,326 net short contracts reported on December 4th following a decline to a total of 79,466 net short contracts on November 27th.
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions increased last week for a second consecutive week. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 636 net long contracts on December 4th following a total of 3,367 net short contracts as of November 27th. Swiss franc positions are now back on the positive side for the first time since October 30th.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions edged lower after increasing the previous week. Canadian dollar positions fell to a total of 57,071 net long contracts as of December 4th following a total of 62,379 net long contracts that were reported for November 27th. Canadian dollar positions had reached the highest level in over two years on September 18th and then fell the next nine weeks in a row before a small turnaround on November 27th.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions increased last week to reach a new 2012 high level. Aussie speculative futures positions rose to a total net amount of 92,229 long contracts on December 4th after totaling 76,806 net long contracts as of November 27th. Australian dollar contracts have now risen six out of the last seven weeks and surpassed the previous 2012 high level reached on September 25th.
NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions advanced last week for a second straight week. NZD contracts edged higher to a total of 21,088 net long contracts as of December 4th following a total of 18,710 net long contracts on November 27th. The New Zealand dollar speculator positions are at their highest level in two months.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts rose sharply last week and for a second straight week. Peso positions increased to a total of 118,962 net long speculative positions as of December 4th following a total of 93,858 long contracts that were reported for November 27th.
Article by CountingPips.com
