Net long gold positions on US commodity exchange COMEX fell 22% to 200,116 contracts in the week to October 4, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed Monday.
The net long position is the least bullish since the week of June 7, with money managers increasing the number of shorts by 66% on the week to around 45,000 contracts, the highest since May. The number of long contracts were reduced by 13% on the week to around 245,000.
Gold is trading around $1,260/oz Monday morning, up from $1,250/oz Friday, following a worse-than-expected US jobs report for September.
Before the report Friday, which showed the unemployment rate crept up by 0.1 percentage points to 5% in September, gold had registered its worst week in almost a year, down around 6% on the week and hitting four-week lows Thursday of $1,340/oz.
Yet it has done little to dampen overall expectations of a lift in US interest rates this year, CME Fed Fund Futures showing a 65% probability of a rate hike by December. The chance of a hike by November, however, are down to around 8% Monday, from nearly 15% before the report Friday.
At the same time, investor demand for gold-backed ETFs showed a sharp uptick as gold prices fell. The world's largest, SPDR Gold Trust, reported inflows of over 11 mt on Friday alone, the highest daily flow into the fund since the days immediately after the Brexit referendum result June 24.
It takes total assets to just below 960 mt, the highest level since August, according to company data.
Net long silver positions fell by 16% to a 16-week low of 64,507 contracts, CFTC data showed. Silver is trading around $17.75/oz Monday, up around 45 cents from Friday's four-month lows around $17.30/oz.
Platinum positions fell for the eighth straight week, down 18% to a 14-week low of 17,347 net long contracts. Palladium positions increased for the second week, up 4% to a four-week high of 14,319 net long contracts.
