Monday, January 31, 2011

Seculators cut bullish positions in all metals

By Debbie Carlson

(Kitco News) - Speculators cut bullish positions in all the U.S. metals futures markets in the week ending Jan. 25, according to data released late Friday from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In its weekly commitment of traders report for futures and options combined, the CFTC showed speculators in both the disaggregated and legacy reports reduced gross long positions across the precious and base metals. Morgan Stanley noted precious metals’ prices spent most of the week under pressure until Friday’s rally because of civil unrest in Egypt.

During the timeframe covered by the report, front-month April gold futures on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $36.10 an ounce, settling Jan. 25 at $1,333.80. March silver dropped $2.107 an ounce, settling at $26.805.

The funds continue to chip away at their net-long positions in gold, with this week’s data the fourth straight week of declines. In the disaggregated report, managed-money accounts are now net-long 129,664 contracts as they cut 1,993 gross longs and added 2,817 gross shorts. Producers and swap dealers cut exposure on both sides in gold but cut more gross shorts than longs, reducing their net-short position.

As in the disaggregated report, funds in the legacy report cut gross longs and added to gross shorts. The non-commercials cut 9,337 gross longs and added 4,269 gross shorts, leaving them net-long 175,828 contracts. Commercials carved out both gross shorts and longs, but significantly more shorts, dropping their overall net-short position. [..]

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