Reuters
Yen speculators flip to net short position-US CFTC
Friday April 23, 4:16 pm ET
NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - Speculators in IMM yen
futures reversed into a net short position in the period ended
April 20, from a net long position the prior period, data from
the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday.
The data from the CFTC's Commitments of Traders report on
speculative positioning are used by analysts as an indicator of
future market direction.
For example, extreme net long speculative positions often
signal a decline in the currency, especially if that position
conflicts with the positioning of the more influential
commercial players.Speculators generally are trend followers seeking to pick a precise top or bottom in the market.
Speculators in yen futures notched a net short position of
6,044 contracts in the period ended April 20, compared with a
net long position of 24,760 contracts in the previous week.
"That is remarkable. A massive turnaround," said Sean
Callow, currency strategist with IDEAglobal in New York. "The
important thing from here is that the squeeze is done."
"One source of fuel the dollar has been drawing from
against the yen, namely squeezing long yen speculative
positions, has been exhausted. It is going to be fairly hard
work from here for the dollar. It could be quite a struggle for
the dollar to move above 110.0 yen," Callow said.
Late Friday in New York, the dollar was buying 109.0 yen
(JPY=) in the spot market.
Euro speculators net long futures position increased to
9,799 contracts for the week ending April 20, from 5,743
contracts the prior period.
JAPANESE YEN (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)
4/20/04 week 4/12/04 week
Long 18,697 47,017
Short 24,741 22,257
Net -6,044 24,760
EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)
4/20/04 week 4/12/04 week
Long 22,037 18,074
Short 12,238 12,331
Net 9,799 5,743
POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,000 pounds sterling)
4/20/04 week 4/12/04 week
Long 8,083 12,752
Short 2,939 2,104
Net 5,144 10,648
SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)
4/20/04 week 4/12/04 week
Long 3,757 3,865
Short 12,060 9,806
Net -8,303 -5,941
CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)
4/20/04 week 4/12/04 week
Long 14,206 20,785
Short 14,758 3,635
Net -552 17,150
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)
4/20/04 week 4/12/04 week
Long 5,808 12,252
Short 2,562 826
Net 3,246 11,426
MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)
4/20/04 week 4/12/04 week
Long 4,894 8,915
Short 20,231 15,184
Net -15,337 -6,269 |
