Brent crude speculators raise bullish holdings to record high

LONDON: Speculators raised their holdings of Brent crude oil futures to a new record high last week, inspired by the first deal in 15 agreed by non-OPEC producers to join output cuts of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Data from the InterContinental Exchange on Monday showed investors increased their net long position by 25,276 contracts to 477,861 lots in the week to Dec 13. That exceeds the previous record of 452,585 lots seen the previous week.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached their first deal since 2001 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut on Dec 10. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have already started cutting January supplies to customers.