NEW YORK: Speculators’ net bearish bets on the US dollar rose in the latest week to a three-week high, according to calculations by Reuters and US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.

The value of the net short dollar position was $8.12 billion for the week ended April 20, compared with a net short position of $6.09 billion for the prior week.

US dollar positioning was derived from net contracts of International Monetary Market speculators in the Japanese yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, and Canadian and Australian dollars.

The week’s rise in the bearish positions on the dollar snapped a seven-week streak of shrinking net bearish bets on the greenback.

In a wider measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the greenback posted a net short of $8.09 billion, down from $5.71 billion a week earlier.

On Friday, the dollar fell to a seven-week low against a basket of major currencies, on pace for a weekly drop of 0.8%, its third consecutive week of losses.

The dollar, which staged a rebound earlier this year after a dismal 2020, has weakened in recent sessions as Treasury yields retreated following a sharp rally.

The dollar ending the week on a low note would add to the negative technical momentum that has developed over the past month, Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank, said in a note.

“We remain bearish on the broader outlook for the USD,” he said.