Author: Paul Ploumis25 May 2015 Last updated at 22:49:12 GMT

(Kitco News) - According to the latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), speculators increased their exposure to gold last week.

The disaggregated Commitment of Traders Report (COTR), for the week ending May 19, showed money-managed speculative long positions of Comex gold futures rose by 28,099 contracts to 132,306. At the same time, shorts fell by 22,799 contracts to 53,689. Gold’s net length now stands at 78,617 contracts.

“Net fund length climbed by 28k lots, driven by the establishment of fresh longs (22.9 lots) and the reduction in net shorts (-22.3k lots) during the week ended 19 May,” noted Barclays analysts in a report released Monday.

“This is the strongest increase in net longs since January and gross highest high since February 23. Elevated net positioning implies scope for long liquidation if US data are better than expected in coming sessions,” they added.

The analysts also noted that exchange-traded products fell by 8.6 tonnes for the week and 18.3 tonnes for the month-to-date, adding that “the strong price environment early in last week likely induced sales of ETPs to capture the temporary high.”

The disaggregated COTR showed money-managed speculative gross long positions of Comex silver futures rose by 8,554 contracts to 54,860, while short positions fell by 19,680 to 11,920 contracts. Silver’s net length now stands at 42,940 contracts.

Courtesy: Kitco News