Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators raised their bullish net positions in the Gold futures markets this week following a recent slide in the speculator sentiment, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.
The non-commercial futures contracts of Gold futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 224,348 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday June 16th. This was a weekly gain of 15,735 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 208,613 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) going up by 13,423 contracts (to a weekly total of 277,395 contracts) while the gross bearish position (shorts) fell by -2,312 contracts for the week (to a total of 53,047 contracts).
Gold speculative bets rose for the first time in four weeks and after a decline of -43,175 contracts in the past three weeks combined. Gold speculator positions have been shedding bullish bets in the past three or four months after reaching an all-time bullish record high on February 18th with a total of +353,649 contracts. Since then, speculator bets have declined in twelve out of the past seventeen weeks and by a total of -129,301 contracts in that time-frame. This week’s rebound marked the largest one-week gain in the past seventeen weeks, dating back to February 18th.
Gold Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders' position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -258,020 contracts on the week. This was a weekly fall of -14,563 contracts from the total net of -243,457 contracts reported the previous week.
Gold Futures:
Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the Gold Futures (Front Month) closed at approximately $1729.60 which was an uptick of $14.90 from the previous close of $1714.70, according to unofficial market data.