UPDATE 1-Speculators cut back on net long U.S. dollar bets to lowest since mid-April -CFTC, Reuters
(Adds details, CFTC table, bitcoin futures) NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) - Speculators' net long positioning on the U.S. dollar slid further to their lowest level since around mid-April, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the net long dollar position drifted to $13.07 billion in the week ended June 7, from $14.71 billion the previous week, CFTC data showed. Net long dollar positions have declined for a fourth consecutive week. The data came ahead of hotter-than-expected U.S. consumer price index data, which reinforced expectations of aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, a positive factor for the greenback. In the 12 months through May, the CPI increased 8.6%, the largest year-on-year increase since December 1981 and followed a 8.3% advance in April. The so-called core CPI increased 6.0% in the 12 months through May. That followed a 6.2% rise in April. On Friday, the dollar climbed to a near four-week high against a basket of currencies. The dollar index was last up 0.9% at 104.19. So far this year, the dollar gained nearly 9%, on track for its best yearly performance since 2014. Speculators also reduced net short positions on the yen to 91,646 contracts, despite the Japanese currency dropping 3% over the past week, which pushed it to a two-decade low. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin net longs hit a total of 490 contracts. Speculators have been net long bitcoin for seven straight weeks, which suggested that short-term investors could be hedging negative bets on bitcoin with long futures contracts. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, was last down 3.1% at $29,134. Since the beginning of the year, bitcoin has fallen about 37%. Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $8.641 billion 07 Jun 2022 Prior week week Long 18,466 15,201 Short 110,112 109,640 Net -91,646 -94,439 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) $-6.759 billion 07 Jun 2022 Prior week week Long 230,248 236,553 Short 179,705 184,281 Net 50,543 52,272 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) $5.571 billion 07 Jun 2022 Prior week week Long 34,618 30,788 Short 105,428 104,893 Net -70,810 -74,105 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) $2.072 billion 07 Jun 2022 Prior week week Long 2,609 2,641 Short 18,741 23,099 Net -16,132 -20,458 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) $0.085 billion 07 Jun 2022 Prior week week Long 39,288 30,520 Short 40,350 37,527 Net -1,062 -7,007 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) $3.461 billion 07 Jun 2022 Prior week week Long 31,720 32,897 Short 79,616 81,579 Net -47,896 -48,682 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) $-0.836 billion 07 Jun 2022 Prior week week Long 119,162 114,480 Short 86,436 79,031 Net 32,726 35,449 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) $1.283 billion 07 Jun 2022 Prior week week Long 12,310 9,179 Short 32,081 27,903 Net -19,771 -18,724 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)