Investing.com sentiment index: speculators reduce bullish dollar bets

© Reuters. Speculators reduce bullish dollar bets last week

Investing.com - The Investing.com weekly sentiment index published on Monday revealed that speculators reduced their bullish dollar bets last week, as they continued to speculate over the timing of the next U.S. rate hike.

According to the report, 32.7% of investors held long positions in EUR/USD in the week ended August 26, rising from 23.9% in the preceding week.

Meanwhile, 30.9% of investors were long GBP/USD as of last week, falling from 32.2% a week earlier.

Amongst the safe-haven currencies, 36.7% of market participants held long positions in USD/JPY, compared to 43.1% in the previous week, while 48.5% of investors were long USD/CHF, down from 54.2%.

In the commodity-linked currencies space, 40.5% were long USD/CAD, declining from 46.2% a week earlier, 52.5% held long positions in AUD/USD, compared to 54.6% in the preceding week, while 35.6% were long NZD/USD, little changed from 35.3% a week earlier.

The report also showed that 63.0% of market participants held long positions in gold futures as of last week, compared to 58.0% in the preceding week.

Elsewhere, 58.1% of investors were long the S&P 500, falling slightly from 58.5% a week earlier.

A reading between 50%-70% is bullish for the instrument, a reading between 30% and 50% is bearish, a reading above 70% indicates overbought conditions and a reading below 30% indicates oversold conditions.

The Investing.com series of indexes is developed in-house. Each index measures overall exposure to major currency pairs, commodities and indexes, using data from futures exchanges and OTC providers on all long and short open positions.