Speculators raise dollar shorts

Currency speculators increased bets against the US dollar in the latest week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net short position rose to $16.27 billion in the week ended August 23, from $13.55 billion a week earlier.
Speculators also turned bullish on sterling, with net long contracts of 10,961, the largest since March 2008. Short-term investors had net short contracts of 3,096 in the pound the previous week. Euro net longs were also cut by more than half to 2,539 contracts, reflecting increased nervousness about the euro zone debt crisis. Bullish bets on the Australian dollar, meanwhile rose to 43,574 contracts from 29.723 the week before. It was the largest net long since August 2.