| By Debbie Carlson (Kitco News) - Speculative traders returned as gold buyers in U.S. futures and options, according to U.S. government data released late Friday. In both the disaggregated and legacy weekly commitment of traders reports issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the managed-money and larger trader speculative non-commercial accounts increased their net-long positions in the yellow metal, following several weeks of a decrease. The data is for the trade date ended Sept. 6 and encompasses both the futures and options activity combined at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. A rise in prices for gold may have encouraged funds to add to net-long contracts. During the timeframe measured, most-active December gold futures contract on Comex rose $43.50 an ounce and settled at $1,873.30 on Sept. 6. Comex December silver gained 40.4 cents an ounce to settle at $41.868. October Nymex platinum rose $5.10 an ounce to settle at $1,858.20 and December Nymex palladium fell $29.75 an ounce to $749.55. Comex December copper rose 8.55 cents a pound to $4.0560. Managed-money accounts returned to adding to their net long gold position, reversing August’s action. Their net-long position now stands at 197,844. They added 1,377 gross longs and cut 1,095 gross shorts. CFTC data show these speculative accounts are nearly completely long, as the total gross short position is 4,980 contracts. Despite this heavy gross long position, analysts at Barclays Capital said it is not worrisome. “Non-commercial positions as a percentage of open interest remained unchanged at 35%, implying the market is not over extended,” they said. The producer category showed these market participants added to positions in gold on both sides, adding a significant number of gross shorts, which lifted its net short position. Swap dealers also added to both sides, but posted more longs than shorts, decreasing their net-short position. In the legacy report, large speculators, known as non-commercials, increased gross longs by 9,349 contracts and raised gross shorts by 481 contracts, pushing up their net-long position to 241,504 contracts. Commercial traders increased gross longs and shorts, but added more shorts, leaving them with a bigger net-short position. Managed-money accounts added to longs and cut shorts in silver, increasing their net-long for silver to 28,256. They raised gross longs by 1,125 contracts and cut gross shorts by 700 contracts. In silver, producers andswap dealers both cut longs and added shorts, raising their respective net-short positions. Read rest of article | |
