Speculators raised their bullish bets on the US dollar in the latest week, with net longs rising for the first time in two months, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net long position rose to $3.26 billion in the week ended April 1, from $1.24 billion the previous week. Prior to the latest week, net longs on the greenback have declined for seven straight weeks.
A round of fairly positive US economic data has helped bolster sentiment on the dollar and has kept the prospect of the Federal Reserve's reduction of bond purchases intact. Overall, investors have maintained net long positions on the dollar for 22 consecutive weeks. The last time speculators were short the greenback was in late October 2013. 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.