USD and JPY longs increased, GBP shorts almost doubled - ANZ

Research Team at ANZ, lists down the CFTC speculative positioning data for the week ending 27 September 2016.

Key Quotes

“Leveraged funds turned net buyers of USD for the first time in three weeks despite the DXY moving lower post the FOMC meeting on 21 September. Funds raised their overall net long USD positions by USD3bn to USD9.2bn. Future positioning will depend on the upcoming jobs report to gauge the timing of the Fed’s next move, with market pricing of a December hike currently at near 60%.

Net short GBP positions almost doubled to USD5bn from USD2.7bn the week before, as bearish sentiment towards sterling re-emerged. This ends four consecutive weeks of net buying of GBP.

CHF and CAD were the other two currencies to see net selling. Positioning flipped from net long to net short CHF as leveraged funds sold USD2bn worth of the franc. It was a similar situation for CAD which saw net selling worth USD1.9bn, taking funds’ overall position from net long USD0.3bn to net short USD1.6bn. This was prior to the OPEC agreement to limit oil production announced on 28 September.

Dollar buying was not broad-based. Leveraged funds increased their net long JPY positions by USD1.8bn to USD8bn post the BoJ’s surprise new tweak to its monetary policy framework. Funds also reduced their net EUR shorts for the third consecutive week by USD0.3bn to USD12bn.

AUD and NZD saw a combined net buying of USD1.2bn to take their overall net long positions to USD1.1bn and USD2bn respectively.

MXN saw net selling in the week despite a rally following the first US presidential debate on 26 September. Overall net short MXN positions rose slightly from USD2.3bn to USD2.4bn. RUB and BRL however, further added to their net long positions by a combined USD0.2bn in the week.”