Currency speculators turned long on the euro for the first time in two months in the latest week while they doubled bets against the US dollar, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. The value of the dollar's net short position rose to $15.06 billion in the week ended January 18, from a net short position of $7.38 billion the previous week, according to Reuters and CFTC calculations.
Net long positions on the euro stood at 4,109 contracts in the latest week, the highest since the week ending November 16, compared with net short positions of 45,182 contracts in the prior week, the data showed. "What it suggests is that it was not just (euro) shorts were getting nervous and closing their positions, but was actually an increase in the appetite of longs to go longer," said Camilla Sutton, senior currency strategist at Scotia Capital in Toronto. Sutton said the euro could rebound toward $1.3720 next week. "My core view for Europe is that we're in a period of stabilisation, but we still have volatility ahead," she added. The CFTC data also showed speculators reversed bets against sterling while trimming long positions on the Japanese yen and Swiss franc.