Speculators reduced their bullish bets on the US dollar in the latest week, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.
The value of the dollar's net long position, derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars, was $13.33 billion in the week to Sept. 10.
That compares with a net long position of $14.24 billion in the previous period.
In a wider measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the US dollar posted a net short position valued at $12.58 billion, down from $13.11 billion a week earlier.
Early this week, the dollar drifted lower as investor appetite for higher risk currencies found support on a report of German stimulus plans, diminishing chances of a no-deal Brexit and hopes of a breakthrough in the US-China trade war.
Since then, the dollar has fallen further as the euro has gained following the European Central Bank's decision on Thursday to exempt euro zone banks from a penalty charge, which analysts say will reduce the currency impact of new stimulus.
The ECB on Thursday cut its deposit rate to a record low -0.5% from -0.4% and said it will restart bond purchases of 20 billion euros a month from November. The purchases will run for as long as necessary and end shortly before it starts raising the key ECB interest rates.
Comments
Comments are closed.