Currency speculators trimmed their bets in favour of 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 long position slipped to $17.8 billion in the week ended April 3 from $19.58 billion the previous week. Net shorts on the yen shrank slightly from the previous week, when they ballooned to their biggest since July 2007, according to Scotia Capital estimates.
The yen has weakened against the dollar through much of the year, particularly after the Bank of Japan increased its asset-buying program in mid-February. To be short a currency is to bet it will decline in value, while being long is a view its value will rise. The Reuters calculation for the aggregate US dollar position is derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian and Australian dollars.