NEW YORK - Speculators reduced their bullish bets on the U.S. dollar in the latest week, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.

The value of the dollar's net long position, derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars, was $13.33 billion in the week to Sept. 10.

That compares with a net long position of $14.24 billion in the previous period.

In a wider measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the U.S. dollar posted a net short position valued at $12.58 billion, down from $13.11 billion a week earlier.

Early this week, the dollar drifted lower as investor appetite for higher risk currencies found support on a report of German stimulus plans, diminishing chances of a no-deal Brexit and hopes of a breakthrough in the U.S.-China trade war.

Since then, the dollar has fallen further as the euro has gained following the European Central Bank's decision on Thursday to exempt euro zone banks from a penalty charge, which analysts say will reduce the currency impact of new stimulus.

The ECB on Thursday cut its deposit rate to a record low -0.5% from -0.4% and said it will restart bond purchases of 20 billion euros a month from November. The purchases will run for as long as necessary and end shortly before it starts raising the key ECB interest rates. 

Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $-3.789 billion

10 Sep 2019 Prior week

week Long 56,579 57,222 Short 23,988 29,540 Net 32,591 27,682

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) $6.88 billion

10 Sep 2019 Prior week

week Long 180,535 186,144 Short 230,377 235,280 Net -49,842 -49,136

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) $7.117 billion

10 Sep 2019 Prior week

week Long 37,903 38,695 Short 130,136 123,654 Net -92,233 -84,959

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) $0.364 billion

10 Sep 2019 Prior week

week Long 16,087 16,362 Short 18,979 22,201 Net -2,892 -5,839

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) $-0.876 billion

10 Sep 2019 Prior week

week Long 54,971 48,206 Short 43,448 42,857 Net 11,523 5,349

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) $3.636 billion

10 Sep 2019 Prior week

week Long 36,994 34,089 Short 90,008 93,407 Net -53,014 -59,318

MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) $-2.453 billion

10 Sep 2019 Prior week

week Long 126,807 126,271 Short 31,170 34,480 Net 95,637 91,791

NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) $1.913 billion

10 Sep 2019 Prior week

week Long 22,490 21,066 Short 52,280 51,742 Net -29,790 -30,676

 

(Reporting by Kate Duguid; Editing by David Gregorio and Tom Brown) ((kate.duguid@thomsonreuters.com; +646-223-6118; Reuters Messaging: kate.duguid@thomsonreuters.com@thomsonreuters.net))