(Adds detail, comment from economists and analysts and CFTC data)
BRASILIA, May 7 (Reuters) - Brazil’s real rose 1% on Friday and hit a four-month high, rounding off its strongest week of the year after surprisingly solid retail sales figures for March cooled fears that a deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic might be pushing the economy into reverse.
Following on from the central bank’s second aggressive interest rate hike on Wednesday and indication it will continue tightening policy in the coming months to quell inflation, the real’s recent upward momentum continued.
The real closed at 5.2271 per dollar, up around 1% on the day and its strongest close since Jan. 14. This week, the real gained almost 4%, its biggest weekly gain since December 8-12.
EnergyColumn: Fund oil buying resumes as global manufacturing surges
John Kemp
5 minute read
A worker holds a nozzle to pump petrol into a vehicle at a fuel station in Mumbai, India, May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas
Hedge funds boosted their position in petroleum for the third week running, confirming increasing confidence over rising prices for the rest of the year.
Though the increases were small, with money managers purchasing the equivalent of 30 million barrels in the six most important petroleum futures and options contracts in the week to April 27, it was still the largest weekly increase since early February.
Purchases over the three most recent weeks have totalled 63 million barrels, according to position records published by ICE Futures Europe and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
(Adds detail, comment from economists and analysts and CFTC data)
BRASILIA, May 7 (Reuters) - Brazil’s real rose 1% on Friday and hit a four-month high, rounding off its strongest week of the year after surprisingly solid retail sales figures for March cooled fears that a deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic might be pushing the economy into reverse.
Following on from the central bank’s second aggressive interest rate hike on Wednesday and indication it will continue tightening policy in the coming months to quell inflation, the real’s recent upward momentum continued.
The real closed at 5.2271 per dollar, up around 1% on the day and its strongest close since Jan. 14. This week, the real gained almost 4%, its biggest weekly gain since December 8-12.
Fund oil buying resumes as global manufacturing surges
Hedge funds boosted their position in petroleum for the third week running, confirming increasing confidence over rising prices for the rest of the year.
Though the increases were small, with money managers purchasing the equivalent of 30 million barrels in the six most important petroleum futures and options contracts in the week to April 27, it was still the largest weekly increase since early February.
Purchases over the three most recent weeks have totalled 63 million barrels, according to position records published by ICE Futures Europe and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Portfolio managers have reversed about half of their net sales in late March and early April, when there were concerns about frothy oil prices and resurgent coronavirus cases.
Funds unexpectedly sell CBOT corn as end users face unpleasant price tag
Speculators were expected last week to have gone on a record buying spree in Chicago corn, but it was a commercial short squeeze that seemed to better explain the highly volatile price activity.
Corn plants are seen in a farm near Pergamino, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires during the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Argentina April 27, 2021. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
In the week ended April 27, money managers reduced their net long in CBOT corn futures and options to 378,663 contracts from 383,998 in the prior week according to data published on Friday by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.