Speculators net long bets on falling USD – CFTC, Reuters

NEW YORK, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Speculators’ net long bets on the U.S. dollar fell last week, according to Reuters calculations and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.

The value of the net long dollar position was $6.76 billion for the week ended Feb. 15, the lowest since August. Last week, speculators’ net long position was $7.81 billion.

The US dollar positioning was driven by net contracts by international money market speculators in the Japanese yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, and Canadian and Australian dollars.

In a broader measure of dollar positioning which includes net contracts in the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the greenback posted a net long position of $6.17 billion, against $7.57 billion the previous week.

The dollar, which rose 6.3% against a basket of currencies in 2021, has struggled to extend its gains this year as investors worry that much of the good news that has driven the US currency rally are already priced in.

The dollar index rose 0.3% on Friday, buoyed by bid for safe-haven currencies, as a series of developments in the Ukraine-Russia crisis kept investors on edge. Read more

Japanese yen (12,500,000 yen contracts)

$7.153 billion

EURO (125,000 euro contracts)

-$6.754 billion

POUND STERLING (Contracts of £62,500)

-0.189 billion dollars

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)

$1.312 billion

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)

-0.957 billion dollars

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Australian $100,000 contracts)

$6.199 billion

MEXICAN PESO (500,000 peso contracts)

-0.22 billion dollars

NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (100,000 New Zealand Dollar Contracts)

$0.62 billion

Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis

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