U.S. dollar longs up; euro shorts at record high -CFTC, Reuters

(Adds table, details)

March 27 (Reuters) - Positive bets on the U.S. dollar rose

in the latest week, while net shorts on the euro jumped to a

record high, according to data from the Commodity Futures

Trading Commission and Thomson Reuters that was released on

Friday.

The value of the dollar's net long position increased to

$43.91 billion in the week ended March 24 from $38.59 billion

the previous week. Last week, net longs in the dollar fell under

$40 billion for the first time in 12 weeks.

To be long a currency is to take a view that 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, sterling, Swiss franc,

Canadian and Australian dollars.

The increase in dollar longs came at the expense of the euro

as investors amassed record shorts on the currency.

Net euro shorts hit a record peak of 220,963 contracts in

the latest week as the European Central Bank started its

quantitative easing program. The ECB is effectively buying $3

billion in bonds per day from euro zone countries.

Last week, net euro short contracts were at 193,774.

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

24Mar2015 week Prior week

Long 39,156 44,496

Short 85,061 92,550

Net -45,905 -48,054

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)

24Mar2015 week Prior week

Long 50,148 56,329

Short 271,111 250,103

Net -220,963 -193,774

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)

24Mar2015 week Prior week

Long 35,938 47,155

Short 74,495 85,006

Net -38,557 -37,851

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)

24Mar2015 week Prior week

Long 12,604 18,129

Short 16,559 15,894

Net -3,955 2,235

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)

24Mar2015 week Prior week

Long 19,193 21,001

Short 51,849 53,823

Net -32,656 -32,822

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)

24Mar2015 week Prior week

Long 52,079 63,046

Short 80,447 91,853

Net -28,368 -28,807

MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)

24Mar2015 week Prior week

Long 35,044 23,702

Short 76,144 79,641

Net -41,100 -55,939

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

24Mar2015 week Prior week

Long 12,149 13,117

Short 13,015 14,258

Net -866 -1,141

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

and Peter Galloway)