Gold is once again of interest to hedge funds. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said investors are looking at safe assets again, mainly due to the economic uncertainty brought by weak employment figures and rising inflation. In fact, in the latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, speculative long positions in Comex gold futures increased by 13,861 contracts, reaching a total of 131,295. Meanwhile, short positions decreased by 14,129 contracts and went down to 49,680. And all in all, gold's net length is 81.615, which is 52% higher than the previous week. Apparently, gold prices were able to break through $ 1,800, but hit a strong resistance just below $ 1,850.
Gold is now at its highest price since mid-February, and analysts believe that this is just the beginning of the market growth. Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank, along with John Reade, a strategist at the World Gold Council, said they can see gold still soaring in the coming months.
As for silver, the latest COT report said speculative long positions gained 6,640 contracts, so its total number hit 73,342. At the same time, short positions rose by 2,703 contracts, so the total is now 26,851.
Its net length also increased by 9%, so it is now 46,491 contracts.
Many analysts claim that the rally in the copper market pushed gold prices up, but the latest CFTC data shows that some investors are using the ongoing buying pressure as a means to lock in some gains.
Hence, speculative long positions fell by 5,013, declining to 95,238 contracts. Short positions also decreased by 105, hitting 35,031 contracts.
The net length of copper also dropped to 60,207 contracts, which is 7.5% lower than the previous week.
Nevertheless, the Bank of America predicts that copper will still rise above $ 5 a pound, or $ 13,000 a tonne, when supply gap doubles next year.
