Speculators' net short US dollar bets increased in the latest week to their highest since mid-October, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the net short dollar position, derived from net holdings of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars, was $13.73 billion, in the week to January 30.
The previous week's net short position on the dollar was $11.47 billion. In a wider measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian rouble, the US dollar posted a net short position valued at $17.48 billion, compared with $14.458 billion.
Sentiment on the dollar remained bearish, with net short positions rising for a fifth straight week. Speculators have been short the greenback for seven straight months. On Friday, US job growth surged in January and wages increased further, recording their largest annual gain in more than 8-1/2 years and the dollar rallied on that.
But many in the market remained skeptical this goodwill for the dollar could be sustained. "Whether the jobs report's substantially positive impact on the US dollar on Friday results in any bonafide rebound and recovery for the ailing currency remains to be seen," said James Chen, head of research at FOREX.com in Bedminster, New Jersey.
"However, the anticipation of higher interest rates was strong and increasing well before Friday's jobs data, and it still failed to provide the greenback with any respite from its persistent weakness." The dollar index has been down 3.2 percent so far this year, after posting a 10 percent loss in 2017. Speculators, meanwhile, pushed up net short positions on bitcoin futures traded on CBOE Global Markets to 2,139 contracts this week, from 1,746 short contracts the previous week, CFTC data showed.
Bitcoin on Friday fell as much as 15 percent, falling below $8,000 at one point, amid worries about a regulatory clampdown globally. On Thursday, India vowed to eradicate the use of crypto-assets, joining China and South Korea in promising to ban parts of the nascent market where prices have boomed in recent years. The digital currency has come off its lowest level and was last down more than 5 percent at $8,505 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp platform.