Hedge funds’ bullish bets on gold jump to four-year high
Hedge funds and other large speculators boosted their net-long position in gold.
Monday in New York the spot gold price consolidated its recent gains to two-week highs above the psychologically important $1,400 an ounce level.
By early afternoon the yellow metal was trading not far off its highs at $1,415 after gaining as much $24 or 1.5% during the day.
Gold’s was boosted by weaker than expected manufacturing data from the US on Monday that hurt the dollar. The US currency and the gold price tend to move in opposite directions.
Sentiment was also improved after news that hedge funds raised bets on a gold rally by some 35%, the biggest gain in net long positions since March 19 according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data reported by Bloomberg.
The precious metal has shed close to 16% so far this year after dramatic falls in April saw the gold price drop $200 over a matter of days to multi-year lows of $1,323.
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