Speculators raised their net long position in Brent crude oil and futures in the seven days to Nov. 19 for the first time in six weeks, according to IntercontinentalExchange’s weekly Commitment of Traders report published Monday. Money managers, including hedge funds, raised their net long position–or bets that prices will rise–by 20.5% during the week to 107,381 positions. The reversal comes after net long positions were reduced for five consecutive weeks, to hit their lowest point since April last week. Traders in the category raised their long positions by 12,671 and reduced their short positions by 5,622. Open interest in crude oil futures and options increased to 1,779,535 contracts. ICE publishes the reports each week at about 1100 GMT Monday, with data from the previous Tuesday. The reports contain the same four categories of market participants used by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission: producers, swap […]