CFTC Positioning: Net Long Dollars Reduced - ANZ
Analysts at ANZ explained that leveraged funds reduced their net long USD positions by USD0.7bn to USD6.9bn.
Key Quotes:
"US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s speech on 29 March, the final day of the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) cut-off, likely contributed to the position reduction, as it was interpreted as dovish by markets.
The USD was sold most against EUR. Overall net short EUR positions declined by USD0.6bn to USD8.1bn, but the USD selling was not broad based.
JPY and GBP saw net selling of USD0.4bn each in the week. For JPY, this marked the first time leveraged funds had sold the currency in seven weeks. They still maintain an overall JPY net long position of USD4.2bn. Ongoing Brexit concerns are not far from investors’ minds when it comes to GBP, and likely contributed to the increased net short positions to USD4.4bn.
Commodity currencies recorded their ninth consecutive week of net buying.This was despite a decline in commodity prices. Of the three commodity currencies, AUD remains the favourite among leveraged funds, with overall net long positions increasing by USD0.3bn to USD1.7bn. Though leveraged funds still maintain an overall net short position against CAD, this was reduced by USD0.4bn to USD0.6bn (see Figure 9 in PDF). NZD’s overall net long position increased by USD0.1bn to USD0.4bn.
Leveraged funds were net buyers of EM currencies for the fourth consecutive week. This time it was MXN which saw the most net buying, though it is the only currency among the three where leveraged funds still maintain an overall net short position. There was a marginal increase to RUB’s overall net long position, while BRL’s net long position was reduced slightly."
(Market News Provided by FXstreet)
