Hedge funds slashed their bearish bets on US crude to the lowest in five months after OPEC and its allies extended production cuts.
Money managers’ short-only positions on the US oil benchmark fell 12,348 lots to 28,009 futures and options contracts in the week ending March 5, according to data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission released Friday. The reduction in short bets boosted funds’ net-long position in WTI to 183,960, the highest in 19 weeks.