Hedge funds slash bullish wagers on gold over Trump election win
Hedge funds and other large speculators boosted net-long positions by 11% to 197,362 as of Nov. 12, the lowest in 14 weeks.
Spot gold bid was at $1,608.15 as of 11:45 a.m. ET, still hovering in six-month low territory.
News last week that George Soros cut his GPDR Gold Trust by more than 50% has weakened the metal. Soros Fund Management also dumped its stake in Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corp. Emiko Terazono, writing in today’s Financial Times, broke down gold’s difficult week.
With the US market on holiday, buying petered out. There had also been a shift in the outlook for gold among investors, said analysts and brokers.
“We have seen the upside levels for a while now,” said David Govett, head of precious metals at brokers Marex Spectron. “In the face of increasingly positive economic data and good stock market yields, the zero returns of gold and silver are looking more and more unattractive,” he added.
Purchase of physical gold, which had provided support for the market in the past, failed to materialise in a significant way to calm market jitters. “Nervous investors did not get comfort that they used to get from physical markets,” said Joni Teves, analyst at UBS, a leading bullion bank.
