ANZ focuses on funds and asset managers in their weekly look at the CFTC data (week ending January 30)
The bank's summary:
Leveraged funds were big sellers of the greenback, amounting to USD6.4bn, which took their net USD shorts to USD10.2bn, the highest since October 2017.
- Asset managers also extended their net USD shorts by USD0.4bn to a new record high of USD24.3bn.
- However, after the strong US jobs report last Friday, net USD shorts will likely be scaled back.
During the week, USD selling was broad based, led by the EUR and JPY
- Funds remained bullish on commodity currencies
- Funds added USD0.1bn to their net AUD longs to USD2.1bn, the biggest long position since mid-December.
- They also trimmed USD0.3bn from their net NZD shorts to USD0.5bn, the lowest short position since late October.
- Asset managers remained net buyers of commodity currencies.
More:
JPY also saw robust buying by leveraged funds
- positioning in JPY rose sharply to the 28th percentile, correcting from record net shorts. Real money managers also added to their net long JPY exposure, continuing their net JPY buying in the past four weeks
Funds were also net buyers of GBP and CHF, for the fifth and third straight week
- Funds added USD0.1bn to take their net GBP longs to USD5.1bn
- net short CHF positons were cut by USD0.6bn to USD1.1bn
- Asset managers however turned sellers of GBP, while paring their net shorts in CHF
