By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Speculators’ net long bets on the U.S. dollar edged higher in the latest week, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.

The value of the net long dollar position was $5.44 billion for the week ended March 8. Last week, speculators’ net long position stood at $5.12 billion, the lowest level since mid-August 2021.

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

In a wider measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian rouble, the greenback posted a net long of $3.88 billion, up from $3.84 billion a week earlier.

The fallout from the Russia-Ukraine has boosted the dollar, upending investor expectations for a weaker greenback as geopolitical uncertainty and worries over European growth raise the U.S. currency’s appeal.

The dollar which rose 6.3% against a basket of currencies in 2021, has climbed another 3.6% for the year.

Speculators also trimmed their net long positioning on the euro to 58,844 contracts, down from 64,939 contracts, last week.

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.

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

$6.037 billion

08

Mar 2022 week Prior week

15,548 14,665

Long

71,404 83,397

Short

-55,856 -68,732

Net

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)

$-8.017 billion

08

Mar 2022 week Prior week

242,683 228,385

Long

183,839 163,446

Short

58,844 64,939

Net

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)

$1.026 billion

08

Mar 2022 week Prior week

50,982 47,679

Long

63,508 48,016

Short

-12,526 -337

Net

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)

$1.307 billion

08

Mar 2022 week Prior week

4,856 1,651

Long

14,566 16,899

Short

-9,710 -15,248

Net

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)

$-0.594 billion

08

Mar 2022 week Prior week

48,492 50,881

Long

40,846 36,741

Short

7,646 14,140

Net

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)

$5.682 billion

08

Mar 2022 week Prior week

19,521 12,720

Long

97,716 91,056

Short

-78,195 -78,336

Net

MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)

$-1.241 billion

08

Mar 2022 week Prior week

76,020 74,971

Long

23,003 32,593

Short

53,017 42,378

Net

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

$0.842 billion

08

Mar 2022 week Prior week

15,775 10,485

Long

28,154 24,657

Short

-12,379 -14,172

Net

(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)

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