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26 Jan 2015
FX Positioning: GBP shorts climb, most since August 2013 – Nomura
FXStreet (Barcelona) - Research Analysts at Nomura review the IMM data for the week ended January 20, noting that non-commercial accounts sold $1.4bn EUR, $0.8bn GBP and $0.6bn CAD.
Key Quotes
“Unsurprisingly a significant portion of the CHF shorts were closed (specs bought $1.8bn of CHF relative to $3.2bn of shorts as of the prior Tuesday) as the SNB removed the floor and CHF appreciated strongly. Positioning for CHF remains negative however at -$1.4bn.”
“EUR was sold to the tune of $1.4bn on the week ended Tuesday, in anticipation of the ECB announcement of QE. This brought positioning to -$26.1bn, closer to the local lows of -$28.1bn from early November. An estimated $0.3bn of selling since Tuesday brought positioning more net short, to -$26.4bn.”
“CAD shorts were increased as specs sold $0.6bn worth leading into the monetary policy meeting on Wednesday. Our real time indicator suggests specs only added $0.3bn of additional shorts into Friday, despite the significant CAD depreciation.“
“Specs bought $1.8bn of the JPY on the week, bringing positioning to -$8.2bn. While short, positioning is less short than during three quarters of the past year.“
“GBP positioning continued to get shorter with $0.8bn of spec selling, bringing overall positioning to -$4.3bn. This is the most net short GBP has been since August 2013.”
Key Quotes
“Unsurprisingly a significant portion of the CHF shorts were closed (specs bought $1.8bn of CHF relative to $3.2bn of shorts as of the prior Tuesday) as the SNB removed the floor and CHF appreciated strongly. Positioning for CHF remains negative however at -$1.4bn.”
“EUR was sold to the tune of $1.4bn on the week ended Tuesday, in anticipation of the ECB announcement of QE. This brought positioning to -$26.1bn, closer to the local lows of -$28.1bn from early November. An estimated $0.3bn of selling since Tuesday brought positioning more net short, to -$26.4bn.”
“CAD shorts were increased as specs sold $0.6bn worth leading into the monetary policy meeting on Wednesday. Our real time indicator suggests specs only added $0.3bn of additional shorts into Friday, despite the significant CAD depreciation.“
“Specs bought $1.8bn of the JPY on the week, bringing positioning to -$8.2bn. While short, positioning is less short than during three quarters of the past year.“
“GBP positioning continued to get shorter with $0.8bn of spec selling, bringing overall positioning to -$4.3bn. This is the most net short GBP has been since August 2013.”