Make Kitco Your Homepage

Off The Wire

Speculators' net long bets on U.S. dollar edge higher -CFTC, Reuters

Reuters

Kitco News

NEW YORK, March 11 (Reuters) - Speculators' net long bets on the U.S. dollar edged higher in the latest week, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.

The value of the net long dollar position was $5.44 billion for the week ended March 8. Last week, speculators' net long position stood at $5.12 billion, the lowest level since mid-August 2021.

U.S. dollar positioning was derived from net contracts of International Monetary Market speculators in the Japanese 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 rouble, the greenback posted a net long of $3.88 billion, up from $3.84 billion a week earlier.

The fallout from the Russia-Ukraine has boosted the dollar, upending investor expectations for a weaker greenback as geopolitical uncertainty and worries over European growth raise the U.S. currency’s appeal. read more

The dollar which rose 6.3% against a basket of currencies in 2021, has climbed another 3.6% for the year.

Speculators also trimmed their net long positioning on the euro to 58,844 contracts, down from 64,939 contracts, last week.

In the wake of Russia's attack and the consequent financial sanctions on the country, net longs on the Russian rouble were slashed to 9,674 contracts, the lowest since late January.

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

$6.037 billion
08 Mar 2022 week
Prior week
Long
15,548
14,665
Short
71,404
83,397
Net
-55,856
-68,732

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)

$-8.017 billion
08 Mar 2022 week
Prior week
Long
242,683
228,385
Short
183,839
163,446
Net
58,844
64,939

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)

$1.026 billion
08 Mar 2022 week
Prior week
Long
50,982
47,679
Short
63,508
48,016
Net
-12,526
-337

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)

$1.307 billion
08 Mar 2022 week
Prior week
Long
4,856
1,651
Short
14,566
16,899
Net
-9,710
-15,248

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)

$-0.594 billion
08 Mar 2022 week
Prior week
Long
48,492
50,881
Short
40,846
36,741
Net
7,646
14,140

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)

$5.682 billion
08 Mar 2022 week
Prior week
Long
19,521
12,720
Short
97,716
91,056
Net
-78,195
-78,336

MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)

$-1.241 billion
08 Mar 2022 week
Prior week
Long
76,020
74,971
Short
23,003
32,593
Net
53,017
42,378

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

$0.842 billion
08 Mar 2022 week
Prior week
Long
15,775
10,485
Short
28,154
24,657
Net
-12,379
-14,172
Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.