Currency speculators increased bets against the US dollar and added to long positions in the Japanese yen, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. The value of the dollar's net short position rose to $29.82 billion in the week ended March 22, from $27.07 billion a week earlier, according to CFTC and Reuters calculations.
Long positions in favour of the yen rose to the tune of 34,525 contracts, up from 30,230 the prior week, despite last week's efforts by Japanese authorities to weaken the yen. While intervention by G7 central banks helped lift the dollar from a record low near 76 yen, it has so far failed to result in steady dollar appreciation. The US currency traded between 80 and 81 yen for much of the past week.
Speculators also sharply increased bets in favour of sterling as the market spent the first half of the week factring in a possible Bank of England rate hike. The Reuters calculation for the aggregate US dollar position is derived from the net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian and Australian dollars.
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