Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators increased their bullish net positions in the Gold futures markets this week following a recent cool off in bets, 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 88,396 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, March 19th. This was a weekly rise of 9,577 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 78,819 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) declining by -925 contracts to a weekly total of 204,325 contracts but was sharply overcome by the drop in the gross bearish position (shorts) which fell by -10,502 contracts for the week to a total of 115,929 contracts.
The net speculative position had fallen for three straight weeks and for four out of the previous five weeks before this week’s rebound. The gold position remains in bullish territory for the eighteenth straight week after a dip into negative territory in November.
Gold Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders' position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -115,659 contracts on the week. This was a weekly fall of -7,185 contracts from the total net of -108,474 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 $1306.50 which was a gain of $8.40 from the previous close of $1298.10, according to unofficial market data.