(Kitco News) – Gold’s allure drew speculators back in, who added to bullish futures and options positions, according to U.S. government data released Friday.
In addition to gold, speculators added to net long positions for silver in both the legacy and disaggregated weekly commitment of traders reports released by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for the week ended Oct. 25.
December gold futures on the Comex division of the Nymex gained $47.60 an ounce during the timeframe, settling at $1,700.40 on Oct. 25. December Comex silver futures rose $1.221 an ounce, settling at $33.052. Nymex January platinum rallied $28.10 an ounce to $1,568.80 and Nymex December palladium rose $32.20 an ounce to $652.10. Comex September copper settled at $3.4205 a pound, up 0.0605 cent.
Managed money accounts augmented their net-long position in gold, adding 12,477 gross longs and adding 1,320 gross shorts, raising the net-long position to 138,846 contracts. Producers and swap dealers increased their net-short position by cutting gross longs and adding gross shorts.
Non-commercials in the legacy report gathered 10,378 gross longs and added 2,021 gross shorts, hiking the net-long position to 168,343 contracts. Commercials snipped gross longs and added gross shorts, increasing their net-short position.
Even with the rise in the net long position for speculators in gold, the extra weight is not burdensome, said Barclays Capital. “Non-commercial positions now represent 29% of open interest, still well below the peak of 51%,” they said.
Speculators slightly increased their net-long position in silver in the disaggregated report. They added 795 gross longs and cut gross shorts by 675 contracts, raising the net-long to 12,106 contracts. Producers and swap dealers raised their net-short by adding gross shorts and cutting longs.
In the legacy report there was little action for silver, similar to the disaggregated report. The non-commercial traders added 642 gross longs and subtracted 150 gross shorts, lifting the net-long position to 16,291 contracts. Commercials increased their net-short by adding gross shorts and trimming gross longs.
TD Securities said uncertainty kept the funds’ silver positions relatively flat.
Funds cut their net-long position in the platinum group metals. In platinum they cut gross longs and added gross shorts, dropping the net-long position for managed-money accounts to 12,155 contracts. Non-commercials in the legacy data mimicked the action in the disaggregated report, slicing gross longs and raising gross shorts, lowering the net-long position to 20,248 contracts.
Managed-money trimmed their net-long positions in palladium by cutting both gross longs and shorts, but eliminating more gross longs. This lowered the net-long to 6,477 contracts. In the legacy report, the non-commercials also clipped gross longs and gross shorts, reducing the net-long position to 6,965 contracts.
Speculators remain net short in copper for both the disaggregated and the legacy report, but saw the net short position drop. In the disaggregated report, managed-money accounts are now net short 5,023 contracts. In the legacy report, the non-commercial trader is net short 2,888 contracts.
Commerzbank said even though speculators are still short copper, they “have become more optimistic recently, reducing their net short positions in copper, for example, by 40% to 5,000 contracts (in the legacy report)… As copper’s sharp price rally partly happened after the reporting date, positioning on the Comex is likely to be neutral in the meantime.”
Debbie Carlson of Kitco New-October 31, 2011