NEW YORK  - Speculators' net bearish bets on the U.S. dollar grew to the largest position in nearly two years 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 short dollar position was $11.51 billion for the week ended April 21, compared with a net short position of $11.39 billion for the week before that.

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.

To be long on a currency means traders believe it will rise in value, while being short points to a bearish bias.

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 short position valued at $10.65 billion, compared with a net short position of $10.52 billion, a week earlier.

Investors' renewed appetite for risky assets in recent weeks has pressured the dollar, which usually gets a boost from safe-haven demand.

The U.S. Dollar Currency Index, which measures the greenback’s strength against six other major currencies, has slipped 2.5% since touching a more than three-year high in late March.

"The improved supply of dollar in tandem with the Fed’s aggressive policy actions on interest rates and on QE have sparked a discussion about whether the USD is now primed for a correction," Jane Foley, senior FX strategist at Rabobank, said in an note.

"While the easing of panic in the market has taken the USD index off its recent highs, in our view the USD cannot be expected to weaken decidedly until investors feel confident enough to move back into emerging markets. This could be some way off," she said.

On Friday, the greenback eased against the euro, snapping a four-day winning streak as investors covered some bearish bets against the common currency, but broader concerns about the euro's outlook kept dollar bears in check.

Speculators' net long position on the euro was at 87,218 contracts, the largest position in about 22 months, the data showed.

 

Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $-2.64 billion

21 Apr 2020 Prior week

week Long 53,730 49,863 Short 27,704 27,220 Net 26,026 22,643

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) $-11.887 billion

21 Apr 2020 Prior week

week Long 170,378 165,078 Short 83,160 78,461 Net 87,218 86,617

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) $-0.255 billion

21 Apr 2020 Prior week

week Long 29,527 30,287 Short 30,907 27,055 Net -1,380 3,232

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) $-0.606 billion

21 Apr 2020 Prior week

week Long 12,731 11,608 Short 7,807 6,951 Net 4,924 4,657

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) $1.712 billion

21 Apr 2020 Prior week

week Long 19,804 18,038 Short 43,695 41,798 Net -23,891 -23,760

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) $2.29 billion

21 Apr 2020 Prior week

week Long 21,452 22,037 Short 56,272 57,591 Net -34,820 -35,554

MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) $-0.071 billion

21 Apr 2020 Prior week

week Long 25,851 29,926 Short 24,611 26,593 Net 1,240 3,333

NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) $0.89 billion

21 Apr 2020 Prior week

week Long 8,282 8,958 Short 22,541 23,536 Net -14,259 -14,578

 

 

 

(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Marguerita Choy) ((saqib.ahmed@thomsonreuters.com; @SaqibReports; +1 646 223 6054; Reuters Messaging: saqib.ahmed.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))