Hedge funds slash bullish wagers on gold before war jitters
Speculators have reduced net-long positions by 3.6%.
On Monday, silver was drifting lower again following a scorcher of a week when the metal gained 6% to hit a 2016 high above $16.30.
Silver futures in New York for delivery in May, the most active contract, was last trading at $16.23 an ounce, still up just shy of 17% so far this year.
Silver is now outperforming gold as investors seek an alternative to gold following the yellow metal’s disappointing retreat from 13-month highs above $1,270 hit in March.
Speculators’ bullish positioning has reached 9,575 tonnes, the highest level since at least 2006, when government first started to collect the data
Silver is also benefitting from a rebound in industrial demand, particularly in China. More than half of silver usage is in industrial applications including alloys, electronics, photovoltaic and for the production of ethylene oxide.
Some ETF investors have been switching from gold to silver and silver and large-scale futures speculators or “managed money” investors such as hedge funds are also bullish on the outlook for the metal.
Hedge funds dramatically raised bullish bets on silver last week pushing the overall market into a record net long position.
According to the CFTC’s weekly Commitment of Traders data up to April 12 released on Friday speculators once again added to longs, building a bullish position of 9,575 tonnes, the highest level since at least 2006, when government first started to collect the data.
At the same time speculators cut their short positions which saw net longs positions grow to 7,680 tonnes, compared to a record net short of 1,610 tonnes recorded during the third quarter last year.
Source: Saxo Bank
2 Comments
james
The silver to gold ratio was 80 to 1 a historical high, making silver ripe for some one like the Hunt brothers to corner the maket. As I said before, So Solly
Sean Swann
KISS = Keep Investing in Stacked Silver