Speculators turn short U.S. dollar for 1st time in 6 months-CFTC

April 21 (Reuters) - Speculators turned bearish on the U.S.

dollar in the latest week for the first time since late October,

according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

released on Friday.

The value of the dollar's net short position was $1.17

billion in the week ended April 15, from a net long position

of$3.09 billion the previous week. That was the first short

position in nearly six months.

"This is an important shift and highlights that even though

most expect many currencies to weaken against the U.S. dollar

before year-end, it is too early to position for dollar

strength," said Camilla Sutton, chief FX strategist, at

Scotiabank in Toronto.

"For now the trend in the Australian dollar, euro, sterling,

Swiss franc, and gold are bullish...which warns of further

potential upside in these currencies."

One of the most notable changes in CFTC (Taiwan OTC: 1586.TWO - news) positioning was the

decline in short contracts on the yen to 68,716 from net shorts

of 87,462.

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

short is a bet its value will decline.

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 and

Canadian and Australian dollars.

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

15Apr2014 week Prior week

Long 14,351 13,340

Short 83,067 100,802

Net (Dusseldorf: NETK.DU - news) -68,716 -87,462

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros0

15Apr2014 week Prior week

Long 106,252 92,635

Short 78,564 69,335

Net 27,688 23,300

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)

15Apr2014 week Prior week

Long 87,472 91,642

Short 36,874 45,165

Net 50,598 46,477

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)

15Apr2014 week Prior week

Long 23,905 19,275

Short 9,839 7,940

Net 14,066 11,335

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)

15Apr2014 week Prior week

Long 28,288 28,704

Short 63,714 63,011

Net -35,426 -34,307

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)

15Apr2014 week Prior week

Long 40,463 37,630

Short 32,366 34,320

Net 8,097 3,310

MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos

15Apr2014 week Prior week

Long 71,038 70,371

Short 16,801 13,870

Net 54,237 56,501

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

15Apr2014 week Prior week

Long 26,671 26,521

Short 6,824 6,755

Net 19,847 19,766

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chizu

Nomiyama)