Currency speculators increased bets against the US dollar for the second straight week, weekly data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. The value of the net short US dollar position rose to $23.86 billion in the week to March 25, a 3-1/2-month high.
The net short dollar position stood at $22.4 billion in the prior week. The aggregate US dollar position is derived from the net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian and Australian dollars. Speculators pushed net long yen positions to their highest level in more than four years but cut back sharply on net long Canadian dollar positions.