Speculators cut long US dollar bets, euro shorts surge -CFTC, Reuters

(Adds details on Swiss franc net shorts and table)

NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Speculators slightly trimmed

bets in favor of the U.S. dollar in the latest week, and

bolstered net shorts on the euro to their largest level in 2

-1/2 years, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading

Commission released on Friday.

The value of the dollar's net long position inched lower to

$46.22 billion in the week ended Jan. 20, from $46.96 billion

the previous week. Despite the slight decline, net long dollars

have hit at least $40 billion for a fourth straight week.

To be long a currency is to take a view it will rise, while

being short is a bet its value will decline.

Net euro shorts were 180,730 contracts, equivalent to $26.1

billion. That was the largest net short on the euro since June

2012.

Investors had been selling the euro in the last few weeks as

they positioned for the start of the European Central Bank's

quantitative easing, which it finally announced on Thursday. The

ECB plan called for the purchase of 60 billion euros in euro

zone bond purchases.

Another big mover were Swiss franc net shorts - slashed by

more than half to 9,809 contracts or equivalent to $1.4 billion.

That was the smallest net short since the week of Dec. 21.

The decline in franc net shorts was a reaction to the Swiss

National Bank (NYSE: NBHC - news) 's removal of the three-year old cap on the

currency last week.

The Reuters calculation for the aggregate U.S. dollar

position is derived from net positions of International Monetary

Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc,

Canadian and Australian dollars.

Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)

$8.196 billion

20Jan2015 week Prior week

Long 26,525 25,872

Short 104,411 120,497

Net -77,886 -94,625

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)

$26.091 billion

20Jan2015 week Prior week

Long 52,047 50,858

Short 232,777 218,709

Net -180,730 -167,851

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)

$4.326 billion

20Jan2015 week Prior week

Long 35,319 41,920

Short 81,027 79,060

Net -45,708 -37,140

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)

$1.401 billion

20Jan2015 week Prior week

Long 8,226 4,922

Short 18,035 31,366

Net -9,809 -26,444

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)

$2.401 billion

20Jan2015 week Prior week

Long 24,238 27,599

Short 53,318 48,778

Net -29,080 -21,179

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)

$3.805 billion

20Jan2015 week Prior week

Long 9,828 14,778

Short 56,408 60,143

Net -46,580 -45,365

MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)

$1.578 billion

20Jan2015 week Prior week

Long 19,017 17,305

Short 65,280 71,600

Net -46,263 -54,295

NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)

$0.139 billion

20Jan2015 week Prior week

Long 10,941 8,396

Short 12,758 10,172

Net -1,817 -1,776

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chris Reese

and Grant McCool)