Speculators reduced their bullish bets on the US dollar in the week ended Jan. 22 to the smallest position since September, 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 $23.40 billion, in the week ended Jan. 22.

That compared with a net long position of $24.02 billion the previous week. In a wider measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the US dollar posted a net short position valued at $27.55 billion, down from $32.03 billion, a week earlier.

The speculative market has been long on the dollar since mid-June last year. To be long on a currency means traders believe it will rise in value, while being short points to a bearish bias. The CFTC suspended the release of the data because of the 35-day partial US government shutdown, but resumed on Feb 1.

Copyright Reuters, 2019