Investing.com - The Investing.com weekly sentiment index published on Monday revealed that market players significantly decreased their long positions in the euro in the week ending May 16, amid growing expectations for fresh monetary easing by the European Central Bank next month.
According to the report, 41% of market participants held long positions in EUR/USD last week, down from 55% a week earlier. A reading between 30% and 50% is bearish for the instrument.
Investors were also 40.8% long in GBP/USD, compared to 47.9% in the preceding week.
Meanwhile, 53.1% held long positions in USD/JPY, down slightly from 54.1% a week earlier, while 48.8% were long USD/CHF, compared to 60.7% in the preceding week.
Amongst the commodity-linked currencies, 55.3% were long USD/CAD, compared to 50.3% a week earlier, 54% held long positions in AUD/USD, improving from 48.4% in the preceding week, while 45.9% were long NZD/USD, down from 49.3% a week earlier.
Elsewhere, 38.5% of investors held long positions in the S&P 500 last week, up from 12.3% in the previous week.
In the commodities market, 64% of market players held long positions in gold, compared to 57.5% a week earlier.
The Investing.com series of indexes is developed in-house, using data from futures exchanges and OTC providers on all long and short open positions.
A reading between 50% and 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.