Traders suffer in precious metals but stick to long side on FTSE, Oil and Euro

Sharp reverses in the last week have not deterred spread betting punters from opening new long positions in the FTSE100 index, crude oil and the euro’s exchange rate against the dollar.

Bookmakers said traders were having a fresh go this morning at anticipating a Christmas rally in London and New York, by making up-bets on the FTSE100 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Capital Spreads said punters were very long of the FTSE, as a result of positions accumulated over a number of days. They were also long of individual equities, including the likes of Rolls Royce and JJB Sports.

IG Index said its clients were encouraged in their bullishness by today’s news about a takeover approach from Germany for the London Stock Exchange.

On the dollar, IG reported that punters were going short once again following its recent rebound against the euro, the pound and the yen. Cantor Index said traders remained short of the dollar, but not to the extent they were earlier in the month.

One area that traders have been finding particularly tricky has been precious metals. Cantor said most people were bullish on gold now, but some had been caught out by the sharp fall in gold and silver prices last week.

Gold fell from 453 to 435, silver from 8.02 to 6.65 and platinum from 8.75 to 8.25.

Oil was another big casualty last week, twice reaching lows around $40 on the January Nymex contract.

Both IG and Cantor said that punters had been moving long of Nymex near to $40, in the hope of a recovery back towards the November high of $55.

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