Funds Boost Bearish Copper Bets

Dec 23, 2011 NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Speculative investors such as hedge funds boosted their bets on declining copper prices by more than 60% in the latest week, according to data released Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Traders in the managed money category added 824 long positions, or bets on higher prices, and 2,889 short positions, or bets on lower prices, in the week ended Dec. 20.

This raised their net position by 61% to 5,455 short contracts, from 3,390 short contracts a week earlier.

The net position is the difference between the number of short and long positions in Comex futures and options held by traders in the category.

Shifts in the net position are considered indicators of a change in sentiment.

Managed funds have maintained a net short position in copper for 14 consecutive weeks.