By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Speculators’ net long bets on the U.S. dollar edged higher in the latest week, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.
The value of the net long dollar position was $5.44 billion for the week ended March 8. Last week, speculators’ net long position stood at $5.12 billion, the lowest level since mid-August 2021.
U.S. 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.
In a wider measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian rouble, the greenback posted a net long of $3.88 billion, up from $3.84 billion a week earlier.
The fallout from the Russia-Ukraine has boosted the dollar, upending investor expectations for a weaker greenback as geopolitical uncertainty and worries over European growth raise the U.S. currency’s appeal.
The dollar which rose 6.3% against a basket of currencies in 2021, has climbed another 3.6% for the year.
Speculators also trimmed their net long positioning on the euro to 58,844 contracts, down from 64,939 contracts, last week.
In the wake of Russia’s attack and the consequent financial sanctions on the country, net longs on the Russian rouble were slashed to 9,674 contracts, the lowest since late January.
Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)
$6.037 billion
08
Mar 2022 week Prior week
15,548 14,665
Long
71,404 83,397
Short
-55,856 -68,732
Net
EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)
$-8.017 billion
08
Mar 2022 week Prior week
242,683 228,385
Long
183,839 163,446
Short
58,844 64,939
Net
POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)
$1.026 billion
08
Mar 2022 week Prior week
50,982 47,679
Long
63,508 48,016
Short
-12,526 -337
Net
SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)
$1.307 billion
08
Mar 2022 week Prior week
4,856 1,651
Long
14,566 16,899
Short
-9,710 -15,248
Net
CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)
$-0.594 billion
08
Mar 2022 week Prior week
48,492 50,881
Long
40,846 36,741
Short
7,646 14,140
Net
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)
$5.682 billion
08
Mar 2022 week Prior week
19,521 12,720
Long
97,716 91,056
Short
-78,195 -78,336
Net
MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)
$-1.241 billion
08
Mar 2022 week Prior week
76,020 74,971
Long
23,003 32,593
Short
53,017 42,378
Net
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)
$0.842 billion
08
Mar 2022 week Prior week
15,775 10,485
Long
28,154 24,657
Short
-12,379 -14,172
Net
(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
