據路透社9月2日報道，對沖基金繼續將其頭寸從原油轉到燃料油上，特別是汽油，北美、歐洲和中東在夏季假期期間交易清淡。

在截至8月25日的一周內，對沖基金和其他基金經理賣出了相當于1000萬桶的最重要的六種石油期貨和期權合約。這些銷售逆轉了前一周1200萬桶的購買量，但總體狀況自7月中旬以來沒有明顯變化。

不過，在全球范圍內，基金經理仍在繼續賣出原油、買進燃料油，這一趨勢在上周也很明顯。投資組合經理賣出了NYMEX和ICE WTI(減少1500萬桶)、美國柴油(300萬桶)和歐洲汽油(減少500萬桶)，同時買入布倫特原油(增加400萬桶)和美國汽油(增加900萬桶)。

由于缺乏有關整體價格走向的強烈信號，基金經理們正專注于相對價值，推測煉油利潤率將從最近非常低迷的水平有所提高。

煉油利潤率低迷的局面不太可能持續下去，這表明燃料油價格在中期內的表現將強于原油價格，這解釋了頭寸輪換的原因。

王佳晶 摘譯自 路透社

原文如下：

Funds focus on oil refining margins

Hedge funds continued to rotate their positions from crude to fuels, especially gasoline, in light trading during the summer vacation period in North America, Europe and the Middle East.

Hedge funds and other money managers sold the equivalent of 10 million barrels in the six most important petroleum futures and options contracts in the week to Aug. 25.

Those sales reversed purchases of 12 million barrels the week before, but the overall position has not changed significantly since mid-July.

Within the global total, however, fund managers have continued to sell crude and buy fuels, a trend evident last week as well.

Portfolio managers sold NYMEX and ICE WTI (-15 million barrels), U.S. diesel (-3 million) and European gasoil (-5 million) while buying Brent (+4 million) and U.S. gasoline (+9 million).

In the absence of strong signals about the overall price direction, fund managers are concentrating on relative value plays, speculating refining margins will have to improve from their recent very depressed levels.

Depressed refining margins are unlikely to be sustainable, suggesting fuel prices will perform more strongly than crude in the medium term, explaining the rotation in positions.