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24 Aug 2015
Net long USD positions reduced by USD1.3bn - ANZ
FXStreet (Bali) - Khoon Goh, Senior FX Strategist at ANZ, shares his view on the positioning data for the week ending 18 August 2015, noting that net long USD positions were reduced by USD1.3bn to USD26.3bn, ending four consecutive weeks of net buying by leveraged funds.
Key Quotes
"This was mainly driven by a USD1.5bn reduction in EUR net short positions, in what is likely to have been a short covering move (see Figure 5). We noted last week that there could have been some unwinding of EUR short positions following the CNY devaluation, as the euro was a popular funding currency to gain exposure in Asian currencies. Judging from the price action in currency markets, it would appear that there has been quite a lot of unwinding of short EUR/Asia positions."
"Positioning changes in the other major currencies were fairly minor. CHF saw another week of net selling totalling USD0.4bn, taking overall net short positions to USD1.3bn, the highest since late January (see Figure 8). JPY and GBP recorded small net selling, with leveraged fund still maintaining an overall net long position in the latter."
"Commodity currencies saw further net selling for the ninth consecutive week, tracking commodity prices lower (see Figure 14). Leveraged funds increased their net short positions in both CAD and AUD by USD0.1bn to USD4.4bn and USD4.0bn respectively. NZD once again bucked the trend with a marginal increase in net buying (see Figure 11). A bounce in the global dairy auction price likely helped."
"The positioning data does not cover the reaction to the FOMC minutes released on 19 August, or the equity market selloff later in the week. Judging from the price action since the CFTC cut-off date, we can expect further EUR short covering with JPY seeing safe haven related net buying while commodity currencies continuing to bear the brunt of leveraged fund selling."
Key Quotes
"This was mainly driven by a USD1.5bn reduction in EUR net short positions, in what is likely to have been a short covering move (see Figure 5). We noted last week that there could have been some unwinding of EUR short positions following the CNY devaluation, as the euro was a popular funding currency to gain exposure in Asian currencies. Judging from the price action in currency markets, it would appear that there has been quite a lot of unwinding of short EUR/Asia positions."
"Positioning changes in the other major currencies were fairly minor. CHF saw another week of net selling totalling USD0.4bn, taking overall net short positions to USD1.3bn, the highest since late January (see Figure 8). JPY and GBP recorded small net selling, with leveraged fund still maintaining an overall net long position in the latter."
"Commodity currencies saw further net selling for the ninth consecutive week, tracking commodity prices lower (see Figure 14). Leveraged funds increased their net short positions in both CAD and AUD by USD0.1bn to USD4.4bn and USD4.0bn respectively. NZD once again bucked the trend with a marginal increase in net buying (see Figure 11). A bounce in the global dairy auction price likely helped."
"The positioning data does not cover the reaction to the FOMC minutes released on 19 August, or the equity market selloff later in the week. Judging from the price action since the CFTC cut-off date, we can expect further EUR short covering with JPY seeing safe haven related net buying while commodity currencies continuing to bear the brunt of leveraged fund selling."