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By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
NEW YORK, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Speculators' net short bets on the U.S. dollar in the latest week shrank to a six-week low, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.
The value of the net short dollar positions - derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars - totaled $8.19 billion, in the week to Feb. 13.
That compares with a net short position of $12.93 billion the previous week.
To be short a currency means traders believe it will fall in value.
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 $12.03 billion, compared with $17.0 billion a week earlier.
"Whenever you have instances of higher risk aversion you might see flows coming back into the dollar," said Sireen Harajli, a currency strategist at Mizuho in New York.
Higher-risk assets took a beating last week as investors grappled with increased volatility across markets. The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 1.4 percent last week to notch its best weekly performance since November 2016.
The index gave up all those gains this week and hit a fresh three-year low on Friday. "Our view is that the dollar is going to be trading on the defensive this year," Harajli said.
Worries about the U.S. budget deficit are expected to weigh on the greenback, Harajli said.
Meanwhile, speculators' net short position on bitcoin Cboe futures fell to 1,875 contracts, down from a net short position of 2,040 contracts in the prior week, the data showed.
Bitcoin rose above $10,000 on Thursday for the first time in more than two weeks, as investors bought back the digital currency after it had fallen 70 percent from its all-time peak hit in mid-December. Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $13.391 billion
Feb. 13, 2018Prior week
week Long 42,29939,108Short 157,808 151,984Net-115,509-112,876 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)$-19.65 billion
Feb. 13, 2018Prior week
week Long230,785 251,369Short 103,496 110,546Net 127,289 140,823 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)$-1.297 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week Long 64,164 81,698Short49,224 53,831Net14,940 27,867 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)$2.665 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week Long 17,763 16,898Short37,688 37,139Net -19,925-20,241 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)$-2.584 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week Long 62,535 69,492Short30,006 29,328Net32,529 40,164 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)$-0.714 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week Long 49,208 68,273Short40,127 54,525Net 9,081 13,748 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)$-2.594 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week Long122,762127,650Short25,984 34,795Net96,778 92,855 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)$-0.161 billion
Feb. 13, 2018 Prior week
week Long 28,648 29,316Short26,428 25,984Net 2,2203,332
(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed, editing by G Crosse)
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