10 Aug 2015
CFTC: Leveraged funds increased overall USD longs - ANZ
FXStreet (Bali) - The positioning data for the week ending 4 August 2015 showed leveraged funds increased their overall net long positions in the USD for the third consecutive week, while CAD has now overtaken AUD as the commodity currency with the largest overall net short position, notes ANZ.
Key Quotes
"Leveraged funds increased their overall net long positions in the USD for the third consecutive week. The USD2.3bn increase in the week took USD net long positions to USD24.2bn, the highest since early June. The increase in USD longs came at the expense of JPY, EUR and CAD."
"Net short JPY positions rose by USD1.1bn to USD8.0bn. Short positions in yen appear to be rebuilding following a positioning cleanout over the first half of July (see Figure 6 in PDF). Given that overall net short positioning in JPY is still well below the recent highs, there is potential for further position induced weakness in JPY."
"EUR saw an increase in net short positioning by USD0.7bn to USD10.0bn. This largely reverses the previous week’s positioning change, and coincided with a move in the EUR/USD from above 1.1050 to as low as 1.0850."
"CAD has now overtaken AUD as the commodity currency with the largest overall net short position. Leveraged funds increased their bearish bets against the CAD by USD0.5bn to USD3.84bn (see Figure 9 in PDF). AUD net short positions rose by USD0.1bn to USD3.80bn (see Figure 10). NZD managed to buck the trend, seeing increased net buying for the second successive week, reducing its net short position to USD0.98bn."
"GBP remains the only currency where leveraged funds have an overall net long position. However, this was pared back slightly by USD0.1bn to USD4.3bn, in what was likely to be some position adjustment ahead of ‘Super Thursday’ (see Figure 7 in PDF). Post the CFTC cut-off date, GBP fell as the Bank of England Minutes were seen as less hawkish than expected. Given the build-up of net long positions in GBP over recent months, and judging from the decline in GBP/USD following ‘Super Thursday’, the next CFTC report should show a large unwinding of GBP long positions."
Key Quotes
"Leveraged funds increased their overall net long positions in the USD for the third consecutive week. The USD2.3bn increase in the week took USD net long positions to USD24.2bn, the highest since early June. The increase in USD longs came at the expense of JPY, EUR and CAD."
"Net short JPY positions rose by USD1.1bn to USD8.0bn. Short positions in yen appear to be rebuilding following a positioning cleanout over the first half of July (see Figure 6 in PDF). Given that overall net short positioning in JPY is still well below the recent highs, there is potential for further position induced weakness in JPY."
"EUR saw an increase in net short positioning by USD0.7bn to USD10.0bn. This largely reverses the previous week’s positioning change, and coincided with a move in the EUR/USD from above 1.1050 to as low as 1.0850."
"CAD has now overtaken AUD as the commodity currency with the largest overall net short position. Leveraged funds increased their bearish bets against the CAD by USD0.5bn to USD3.84bn (see Figure 9 in PDF). AUD net short positions rose by USD0.1bn to USD3.80bn (see Figure 10). NZD managed to buck the trend, seeing increased net buying for the second successive week, reducing its net short position to USD0.98bn."
"GBP remains the only currency where leveraged funds have an overall net long position. However, this was pared back slightly by USD0.1bn to USD4.3bn, in what was likely to be some position adjustment ahead of ‘Super Thursday’ (see Figure 7 in PDF). Post the CFTC cut-off date, GBP fell as the Bank of England Minutes were seen as less hawkish than expected. Given the build-up of net long positions in GBP over recent months, and judging from the decline in GBP/USD following ‘Super Thursday’, the next CFTC report should show a large unwinding of GBP long positions."