Investors flipped to a short position in the South Korean won and the Taiwan dollar, and squared their long position in the Singapore dollar in recent weeks, when risk aversion intensified on jitters over the euro zone's debt crisis, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.
Investors also shifted to short positions in the Malaysian ringgit and Philippine peso, almost squared their long positions in the Indonesian rupiah, and increased their short position in the Indian rupee. The biggest remaining long position was in the Chinese yuan, but the bet was reduced compared to late August.
Emerging Asian currencies have come under increased pressure this week, with traders citing selling by offshore real money investors as well as hedge funds. The poll asked 13 currency strategists to estimate how the market was positioned in eight Asian currencies against the dollar. The survey measures estimates of the net long or short position in a currency on a scale of minus 3 to plus 3. A score of plus 3 indicates the market is significantly long on dollars.