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 decreased their overall US dollar short positions last week as traders cut back on bets for some of the riskier currencies.
Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, trimmed their total US dollar short position to a total of $16.31 billion on October 2nd from a total short position of $17.96 billion on September 25th, 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 was virtually unchanged last week after seeing improvements for three consecutive weeks that brought euro positions to their best level (or least short level) since September 2011. Euro net short positions or bets against the currency edged just slightly lower to 50,265 contracts on October 2nd from the previous week’s total of 50,238 net short contracts on September 25th.
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 climbed higher last week for a third straight week and brought positions to a new high level for 2012. British pound sterling speculative positions totaled 30,094 net long contracts on October 2nd following a total of 27,137 net long contracts on September 25th. British pound positions are at their highest level since May 3, 2011 when long positions numbered 30,807 contracts.
JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts rose last week and increased for a second straight week. Japanese yen positions increased to a total of 29,335 net long contracts reported on October 2nd following a total of 21,111 net long contracts on September 25th.
CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions edged just slightly lower after increasing for three straight weeks and improving to their best positioning since December 2011. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 984 net short contracts on October 2nd following a total of 904 net short contracts as of September 25th. Franc contracts are still at just about a neutral position against the US dollar and at their best levels since October 2011.
CAD: Canadian dollar positions declined slightly for a second consecutive week after eight weeks of rises. Canadian dollar positions decreased to a total of 101,176 net long contracts as of October 2nd following a total of 105,346 net long contracts that were reported for September 25th. Before falling the last two weeks, Canadian dollar positions had risen higher for eight consecutive weeks and surged to the highest level in over two years on September 18th.
AUD: The Australian dollar positions fell sharply lower last week following a rise the previous week to the highest level of 2012. Aussie speculative futures positions decreased to a total net amount of 63,743 long contracts on October 2nd after totaling 89,562 net long contracts as of September 25th. Australian dollar positions, two weeks ago, had surpassed their most recent 2012 high level on August 21st when long positions equaled 86,882 contracts.
NZD: New Zealand dollar speculator positions increased for a third consecutive week and rose to the highest level since February. NZD contracts rose to a total of 21,381 net long contracts as of October 2nd following a total of 19,965 net long contracts on September 25th. Kiwi contracts are at their highest level since February 27th when positions totaled 22,114 long contracts.
MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts dipped last week after surging to the highest level of 2012 the previous week. Peso positions edged lower to a total of 135,865 net long speculative positions as of October 2nd following a total of 141,256 long contracts that were reported for September 25th. Peso contracts have now been over 100,000 long positions for four straight weeks and are just off their highest level in over two years.
Article by CountingPips.com
