Speculators pare net long U.S. dollar bets in latest week -CFTC, Reuters

(New (KOSDAQ: 160550.KQ - news) throughout, adds details, comments, bitcoin futures; adds

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By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

NEW YORK, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Speculators reduced their net

long U.S. dollar position in the latest week, after it hit the

highest in more than 1-1/2-years the previous week, according to

calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission

data released on Friday.

The value of net long dollars was $23.34 billion in the week

ended Aug. 28, down from $23.67 billion the previous week.

Speculators have been net long the dollar for 11 straight weeks,

after being net short for 48 consecutive weeks.

U.S. dollar positioning was derived from net contracts of

International Monetary Market speculators in the 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 ruble, the U.S. dollar posted a net

long position of $24.691 billion in the week ended Aug. 28, from

$24.95 billion a week earlier.

Extreme net long dollar positioning has prompted short-term

investors to trim those bets. But given the global trade tension

that involves the United States, Canada, China, and the European

Union, speculators could well buy the dollar again as a

safe-haven move.

The latest saga in the overhaul of the North American Free

Trade Agreement (NAFTA) saw a deal concluded with Mexico earlier

in the week, but not with Canada.

Canada and the United States ended NAFTA talks on Friday at

loggerheads. U.S. President Donald Trump said a pact would be on

Washington's terms while Ottawa stood firm against signing "just

any deal."

"There's a lot of uncertainty going into next week," said

Alfonso Esparza, currency strategist, at OANDA in Toronto,

citing the end of the U.S.-Canada trade talks with no resolution

and the possible imposition of more tariffs on China next week.

"We could see more U.S. dollar buying," he added.

Over the last six months, the U.S. dollar has gained 9

percent, while the Canadian currency has fallen nearly 5

percent.

In the cryptocurrency market, speculators' net short

position on bitcoin Cboe futures rose to -1,472 contracts

from net shorts of -1,266 contracts the previous

week, data showed.

Bitcoin on Friday rose nearly 1 percent to $7,048.12

on the Bitstamp platform. It has cleared the $7,000

hurdle on Aug. 28, for the first time in about three weeks.

Still market participants believe bitcoin and the

cryptocurrency market remain in a slowdown.

A crypto market forecasting platform called Cindicator noted

that bullish indicators for the crypto market have a lower

probability than bearish ones.

According to Cindicators' Hybrid Intelligence platform, it

is unlikely that bitcoin will get above $10,000, ether above

$1,400, or the crypto market capitalization above $600 billion.

The forecasting platform also indicated that the crypto

market has yet to hit a bottom this year.

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

$5.176 billion

28 Aug 2018 Prior week

week

Long 50,230 54,116

Short 96,271 101,522

Net (LSE: 0LN0.L - news) -46,041 -47,406

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)

$1.055 billion

28 Aug 2018 Prior week

week

Long 171,359 188,907

Short 178,578 193,748

Net -7,219 -4,841

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)

$6.19 billion

28 Aug 2018 Prior week

week

Long 58,662 68,091

Short 135,590 140,429

Net -76,928 -72,338

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)

$5.729 billion

28 Aug 2018 Prior week

week

Long 5,884 6,302

Short 50,628 53,520

Net -44,744 -47,218

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)

$1.917 billion

28 Aug 2018 Prior week

week

Long 34,111 32,271

Short 58,900 59,292

Net -24,789 -27,021

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)

$3.275 billion

28 Aug 2018 Prior week

week

Long 24,792 25,528

Short 69,425 75,735

Net -44,633 -50,207

MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)

$-0.507 billion

28 Aug 2018 Prior week

week

Long 105,978 113,603

Short 86,641 87,933

Net 19,337 25,670

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

$1.605 billion

28 Aug 2018 Prior week

week

Long 16,445 15,665

Short 40,372 40,808

Net -23,927 -25,143

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss;

Editing by Sandra Maler and David Gregorio)