NEW YORK: Hedge funds and money managers raised their net short position in copper to a fresh four-year high and added to their bullish bets in gold in the week to March 12, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.

Speculators cut their net long in silver futures and options for a fifth straight week, making their most bearish bets in seven months.

Betting on weaker prices for a third week, they built on their net short in copper, adding just 373 contracts to take the total to 16,764. That is its highest since early March 2009.

Data showed the net long in gold rose by 3,564 contracts to 43,195 contracts, while the silver net long fell by 1,078 lots to 5,040, its lowest since August last year.

<Center><b><i>Copyright Reuters, 2013</b></i><br></center>