(Bloomberg) — Hedge funds and other financial traders increased bullish bets on Brent crude, adding to wagers for a fourth week while prices extended declines.
Money managers boosted net-long positions by 23 percent to 132,239 contracts in the week ended Dec. 16, according to ICE Futures Europe exchange. Brent closed 2 percent lower that day after falling to the lowest since May 2009 amid concern that the market is oversupplied.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries resisted calls from members including Venezuela to reduce its production target of 30 million barrels a day when it met on Nov. 27 in Vienna. Brent fell as low as $58.50 a barrel on Dec. 16 and traded for $61.24 at 1:27 p.m. London time.
Producers, consumers and end users of crude became less bearish in the period covered by ICEs Commitments of Traders report. They pared their net-short position, or bets on falling prices, by 4.8 percent to 318,678 contracts.
ICE publishes, usually each Monday, aggregate numbers for long and short positions for speculators such as hedge funds and institutional investors, as well as commercial companies that buy or sell futures to protect against price moves. Analysts and investors follow changes in speculators positions because such transactions can reflect an expectation of a change in prices.
