By Amanda Cooper
LONDON (Reuters) - In the same week when Brent crude futures lost 10 percent and fell to their lowest since 2008, speculators raised their bullish holdings of oil futures in a possible sign the current rout may run out of steam.
Data on Monday from the InterContinental Exchange showed investors raised their net long holdings of Brent crude futures by 12,312 contracts to 182,708 lots in the week to Dec. 8.
Benchmark Brent crude futures (LCOc1) lost more than 10 percent in that time, after OPEC member countries ditched a production ceiling for oil at their Dec. 4 meeting, which sent the price to around $40 a barrel, its lowest since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis. [O/R]
Raising a long position would suggest some investors think Brent crude futures, which on Monday hovered just cents away from an 11-year low around $36.20, may not have much further to fall, at least in the near term.
"We have been saying these net shorts have been stretched for a while and we might see a bit of trimming of positions going into the end of the year and possibly some of that is materialising right now," Barclays (L:BARC) commodities strategist Miswin Mahesh said.
"There wasn't enough bandwidth to stretch it even further, although there are a few comfortable shorts, but given the upcoming contract expiry, the low-liquidity environment with the holiday season approaching, as well as the looming Fed decision, there have been some positions getting trimmed," he said.
The Brent January contract expires on Wednesday, so much liquidity has already rolled over into the February contract, which can influence shifts in positioning.
Yet the ICE data is at odds with speculative positioning in U.S. crude futures, where money managers have cut their net long holdings of crude oil to record lows this month.
Data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday showed money managers, including hedge funds and other big speculators, cut their net longs in U.S. crude oil futures by 12,117 contracts during the week to Dec. 8.
This marked a fifth straight week of declines that left their net long position in U.S. crude at 46,919 contracts, the lowest since the CFTC created the managed money category for oil in 2009. [CFTC/]
ICE speculators cut their net short position in Brent crude by 6 percent, or 8,358 lots.
ICE gasoil speculators cut their net short positions by 4,178 contracts to 44,498 lots in the same week, when gasoil futures (LGOc1) fell by 10 percent to near seven-year lows.