(Adds comment, bitcoin futures, details, table, byline)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Speculators' net short U.S. dollar bets increased in the latest week to their highest since mid-October, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.
The value of the net short dollar position, derived from net holdings of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars, was $13.73 billion, in the week to Jan. 30.
The previous week's net short position on the dollar was $11.47 billion.
In a wider measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian rouble, the U.S. dollar posted a net short position valued at $17.48 billion, compared with $14.458 billion.
Sentiment on the dollar remained bearish, with net short positions rising for a fifth straight week. Speculators have been short the greenback for seven straight months.
On Friday, U.S. job growth surged in January and wages increased further, recording their largest annual gain in more than 8-1/2 years and the dollar rallied on that. But many in the market remained skeptical this goodwill for the dollar could be sustained.
"Whether the jobs report's substantially positive impact on the U.S. dollar on Friday results in any bonafide rebound and recovery for the ailing currency remains to be seen," said James Chen, head of research at FOREX.com in Bedminster, New Jersey.
"However, the anticipation of higher interest rates was strong and increasing well before Friday's jobs data, and it still failed to provide the greenback with any respite from its persistent weakness."
The dollar index has been down 3.2 percent so far this year, after posting a 10 percent loss in 2017.
Speculators, meanwhile, pushed up net short positions on bitcoin futures traded on CBOE Global Markets to 2,139 contracts this week, from 1,746 short contracts the previous week, CFTC data showed.
Bitcoin on Friday fell as much as 15 percent, falling below $8,000 at one point, amid worries about a regulatory clampdown globally. On Thursday, India vowed to eradicate the use of crypto-assets, joining China and South Korea in promising to ban parts of the nascent market where prices have boomed in recent years. The digital currency has come off its lowest level and was last down more than 5 percent at $8,505 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp platform.
Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $13.182 billion
Jan. 30, 2018Prior week
week Long 47,82837,260Short 162,524 160,130Net-114,696-122,870 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)$-23.055 billion
Jan. 30, 2018Prior week
week Long258,022 262,175Short 109,280 117,458Net 148,742 144,717 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)$-2.806 billion
Jan. 30, 2018 Prior week
week Long 95,667 99,369Short63,926 66,324Net31,741 33,045 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)$2.72 billion
Jan. 30, 2018 Prior week
week Long 16,673 14,245Short37,000 36,360Net -20,327-22,115 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)$-2.714 billion
Jan. 30, 2018 Prior week
week Long 75,296 69,446Short41,831 46,889Net33,465 22,557 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)$-1.063 billion
Jan. 30, 2018 Prior week
week Long 63,496 63,551Short50,345 46,872Net13,151 16,679 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)$-2.133 billion
Jan. 30, 2018 Prior week
week Long110,923 97,964Short30,878 36,809Net80,045 61,155 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars)$-0.254 billion
Jan. 30, 2018 Prior week
week Long 29,667 24,620Short26,197 26,086Net 3,470 -1,466(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Susan Thomas and Chizu Nomiyama)
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