Currency speculators raised their net long position on the US dollar and Japanese yen as they sought safety two weeks after the United Kingdom's shock vote to exit the European Union. The value of the dollar's net long position rose to $4.18 billion in the week ended July 5, from $3.01 billion the previous week, according to Reuters calculations and data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday.
It was the eighth straight week that the dollar posted a net long position. Speculators also raised sterling net shorts to 49,031 contracts in the latest week, while they boosted net longs on the yen to 63,568 contracts, the largest such position since early May. Short-term investors have been short the British pound since November, and long the yen since January. Since the Brexit vote, the pound has fallen more than 14 percent.
The yen has proven to be one of the strongest performers in the market, with gains of nearly 20 percent so far this year against the dollar. The currency is on pace to post its best yearly gain since the 2008 global financial crisis. The dollar has had a mixed performance. For the year, the dollar index has been down 2.4 percent, but since May, it has gained 5.2 percent on worries about Brexit.