By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Speculators’ net long positioning in the U.S. dollar dropped in the latest week to the lowest level since mid-August 2021, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.

The value of the net long dollar position fell to $5.12 billion for the week ended March 1, from $5.80 billion the previous week. U.S. dollar net long positioning fell for a seventh consecutive week.

The U.S. dollar positioning was derived from net contracts of International Monetary Market speculators in the Japanese yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, as well as Canadian and Australian dollars.

In a wider measure of dollar positioning, which includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian rouble, the greenback posted a net long position of $3.84 billion this week, from $5.05 billion in the prior week.

“Data released today showed a decline in U.S. dollar bullish sentiment despite elevated market anxiety owing to the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” wrote Scotiabank in a research note after the release of the CFTC data.

Speculators also increased net long positioning on the euro to 64,939 contracts, the largest since July 2021.

Scotia, however, said positive drivers are limited for the euro. That should see investors trim net bullish positions on next week’s data “particularly ahead of a dovish ECB (European Central Bank) decision on Thursday given the risks posed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

In the wake of Russia’s attack and the consequent financial sanctions on the country, net longs on the Russian rouble were slashed to 9,674 contracts, the lowest since late January.

In cyptocurrencies, speculators turned net long on bitcoin futures, with 80 contracts, for the first time since the week of Feb. 1, CFTC data showed.

It has been a roller-coaster ride for bitcoin over the last couple of months. Like most risk assets, bitcoin has struggled amid growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy at its meeting later this month.

So far this year, bitcoin has fallen 14% versus the dollar. It was last down 7.2% at $39,411.

Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)

$7.478 billion

01 Mar 2022 Prior week

week

Long 14,665 10,976

Short 83,397 74,163

Net -68,732 -63,187

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)

$-9.031 billion

01 Mar 2022 Prior week

week

Long 228,385 214,195

Short 163,446 154,889

Net 64,939 59,306

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)

$0.028 billion

01 Mar 2022 Prior week

week

Long 47,679 42,249

Short 48,016 48,058

Net -337 -5,809

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)

$2.075 billion

01 Mar 2022 Prior week

week

Long 1,651 3,785

Short 16,899 14,772

Net -15,248 -10,987

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)

$-1.11 billion

01 Mar 2022 Prior week

week

Long 50,881 47,661

Short 36,741 38,408

Net 14,140 9,253

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)

$5.678 billion

01 Mar 2022 Prior week

week

Long 12,720 11,553

Short 91,056 95,633

Net -78,336 -84,080

MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)

$-1.027 billion

01 Mar 2022 Prior week

week

Long 74,971 72,846

Short 32,593 56,021

Net 42,378 16,825

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

$0.957 billion

01 Mar 2022 Prior week

week

Long 10,485 17,343

Short 24,657 28,894

Net -14,172 -11,551

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chris Reese and Amy Caren Daniel)

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