Speculators long U.S. dollar for 1st time in six weeks-CFTC, Reuters
(Adds table, details on dollar contracts)
May 27 (Reuters) - Speculators turned bullish on the U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) .
dollar for the first time in six weeks, with net longs on the
currency notching their largest level since late March.
More upbeat U.S. economic data as well as suggestions of a
possible interest rate increase next month by several Federal
Reserve officials in recent speeches have boosted sentiment on
the dollar.
The value of the dollar's net long position was $3.73
billion in the week ended May 24, reversing the previous week's
short position of $4.19 billion, according to Reuters
calculations and data from the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission released on Friday.
On Friday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the U.S. central bank
should raise interest rates in the coming months if the economy
picks up as expected and jobs continue to be generated.
Her comments echoed the sentiment of other Fed officials as
well as minutes from the Fed's April 26-27 policy meeting,
published last week. The minutes showed most Fed policymakers
considered it appropriate to raise rates in June if data
continued to point to an improvement in second-quarter growth.
As a result, Fed funds futures, based on the CME Group (Kuala Lumpur: 7018.KL - news) 's
FedWatch tool, moved to price in a 30 percent chance of a June
hike late on Friday, up from 19 percent a week ago.
The dollar has consequently rallied nearly four percent
against a basket of currencies in the last 18 days. For the
month of May, the dollar was up 2.9 percent, on pace for its
largest monthly gain since November.
Meanwhile, speculators slashed net long yen contracts to
22,059, from 58,919 contracts the previous week. This week's net
long yen contracts were the smallest since mid-January.
Persistent warnings of intervention by the Bank of Japan to
weaken the yen after its recent strength have convinced
speculators to lay off the Japanese currency for now.
The Reuters calculation for the aggregate U.S. dollar
position is derived from net positions of International Monetary
Market speculators in the yen, euro, sterling, Swiss franc and
Canadian and Australian dollars.
Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)
24 May 2016 Prior week
week
Long 54,792 86,165
Short 32,733 27,246
Net (LSE: 0LN0.L - news) 22,059 58,919
EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)
24 May 2016 Prior week
week
Long 93,955 101,723
Short 131,850 124,310
Net -37,895 -22,587
POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)
24 May 2016 Prior week
week
Long 38,557 37,533
Short 71,392 75,955
Net -32,835 -38,422
SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)
24 May 2016 Prior week
week
Long 24,884 22,463
Short 20,930 18,316
Net 3,954 4,147
CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)
24 May 2016 Prior week
week
Long 32,834 37,009
Short 12,787 14,303
Net 20,047 22,706
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)
24 May 2016 Prior week
week
Long 51,712 71,793
Short 51,588 46,900
Net 124 24,893
MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)
24 May 2016 Prior week
week
Long 27,017 25,219
Short 74,477 70,910
Net -47,460 -45,691
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)
24 May 2016 Prior week
week
Long 30,414 32,545
Short 25,838 25,857
Net 4,576 6,688
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama and Andrew Hay)