Currency speculators slashed their bets in favour of the US dollar to the lowest since late February, according to weekly data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net long position fell to $14.55 billion in the week ended June 18 from longs of $28.28 billion the previous week. Net long dollar positions declined for a third straight week.
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, and Canadian and Australian dollars. Net short positions on the yen fell further to 61,890 contracts from 72,906 the previous week. Euro positions turned net long in the latest week to 20,030 contracts from net shorts of 7,533 previously. To be short a currency is to bet it will decline in value, while being long is a view its value will rise.