Speculators boost net yen long contracts

Currency speculators boosted bets in favour of the Japanese yen in the latest week, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. Data showed net yen longs rose to 30,230 contracts from last week's 16,656. Analysts expect longs on the Japanese currency to decline after Friday's concerted intervention by G7 central banks to weaken the yen.
Some say the contracts may even revert to a net short position as short-term investors brace for further weakness in the yen. Meanwhile, the value of the dollar's net short position fell to $27.07 billion in the week ended March 15 from $34.9 billion a week earlier, according to CFTC and Reuters calculations. One of the biggest shifts in positioning was in sterling contracts, which reversed to a net short of 225 contracts from net long trades of 33,906 the previous week. Sterling net positions have fallen by nearly 53,000 contracts since mid-February.