EG: Investors Increase Bets on Recovery in Oil Prices
By Georgi Kantchev
LONDON--As oil prices rose in recent weeks from their five-and-a-half year lows in January, investors last week slightly increased the number of bets on a recovery in prices.
Net long positions taken by large investors that the price of Brent crude oil would rise rose by 8% during the past week, according to the Commitment of Traders report from Intercontinental Exchange Inc.
Net long positions are calculated by the total number of bets that the price of oil would rise minus the number of bets that it would fall.
Brent, the global benchmark, has rallied in recent weeks and is up close to 30% from its mid-January low. Analysts caution, however, that the fundamentals haven't changed significantly and the oil market is still heavily oversupplied.
Managed-money accounts decreased the number of long positions--or bets that prices will rise--by 4,276 positions to 261,466 as of Feb. 17, according to the report. The number of short positions--bets that the crude oil price would fall--fell by 16,714 to 90,0054.
The ICE report is published every Monday with data from the previous Tuesday.
Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com
