Speculators reduced their bullish bets on the US dollar in the latest week, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net long position, derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars, fell to $31.05 billion in the week ending June 11. That is the smallest long position since the week to March 26.
It compares with a net long position of $33.32 billion the previous week. The US speculative community has been net long dollars since mid-July last year.
In a wider measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the US dollar posted a net long position valued at $28.85 billion, down from $30.97 billion a week earlier.
The dollar index rose back to an almost two-week high on Friday, after a weak start to June on increased expectations that the Federal Reserve is nearer to cutting interest rates.