NYMEX natgas funds cut net short futures-CFTC

NEW YORK, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Noncommercial or speculative investment funds on the New York Mercantile Exchange decreased their net short natural gas futures exposure by about 8,200 contracts for the week ended Dec. 22, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a report on Monday.

The report showed funds holding 154,613 net short futures, down 8,221 contracts from the previous week's total of 162,834.

Noncommercial speculative traders decreased their total short futures exposure by 8,895 contracts to 233,877, while they trimmed 674 longs, decreasing total length to 79,264.

Fund net short futures only positions hit a record high of 177,606 in late September.

The largest net long futures only position ever held by funds was 55,495 in August 1999.

For the week ended Dec. 22, total natural gas futures open interest, or the number of longs or shorts outstanding, fell 23,442 contracts to 688,851.

In combined futures and options, the report showed funds sliced 33,708 contracts from their net short positions, cutting the total to 72,502.

Fund net short futures and options positions combined hit a record high 285,828 in early July. (Reporting by Joe Silha; Editing by Christian Wiessner)