Investing.com - The Investing.com weekly sentiment index published on Monday revealed that speculators added to their bearish bets on the British pound last week, amid mounting speculation of near-term easing by the Bank of England.
According to the report, 29.0% of investors were long GBP/USD in the week ended July 15, falling from 38.0% a week earlier.
Meanwhile, 29.5% of investors held long positions in EUR/USD as of last week, improving from 26.2% in the preceding week.
Amongst the safe-haven currencies, 38.2% of market participants held long positions in USD/JPY, compared to 41.5% in the previous week, while 43.0% of investors were long USD/CHF, declining from 46.4%.
In the commodity-linked currencies space, 43.3% were long USD/CAD, rising from 41.7% a week earlier, 46.6% held long positions in AUD/USD, compared to 41.2% in the preceding week, while 38.1% were long NZD/USD, up from 31.7% a week earlier.
The report also showed that 55.7% of market participants held long positions in gold futures as of last week, dropping from 56.1% in the preceding week.
Elsewhere, 52.4% of investors were long the S&P 500, rising from 38.9% 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.