Gold Non-Commercial Speculator Positions:
Large precious metals speculators continued to increase their bullish net positions in the Gold futures markets this week, 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 251,250 contracts in the data reported through Tuesday, July 23rd. This was a weekly advance of 5,749 net contracts from the previous week which had a total of 245,501 net contracts.
The week’s net position was the result of the gross bullish position (longs) gaining by 2,346 contracts (to a weekly total of 311,881 contracts) and the gross bearish position (shorts) falling by -3,403 contracts for the week (to a total of 60,631 contracts).
Speculators continue to bet on higher gold prices as their sentiment, as expressed by bullish bets, has increased for two straight weeks and for seven out of the past eight weeks. Speculators have added +164,562 net contracts to their total bullish position over just these past eight weeks.
The current standing of net positions is above the +200,000 net contract level for a sixth consecutive week after having spent the previous seventy-one weeks below this level.
Gold Commercial Positions:
The commercial traders' position, hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -287,839 contracts on the week. This was a weekly fall of -10,431 contracts from the total net of -277,408 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 $1421.70 which was a gain of $10.50 from the previous close of $1411.20, according to unofficial market data.