Currency speculators increased their bets in favour of the US dollar to the highest in 11 months in the latest week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net long position rose to $32.27 billion in the week ended May 14, the highest since mid-June, 2012, from $26.83 billion in the previous week.
Speculators boosted bets against most other currencies, including the Japanese yen, the euro and sterling, while short positions on the Swiss franc more than doubled in the latest week. Speculators also sharply reversed bets in favour of the Australian dollar, with short positions reaching as high as 13,450 contracts in the latest week. To be short a currency is to bet it will decline in value, while being long is a view its value will rise. The Reuters calculation for the aggregate US dollar position is derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian and Australian dollars.