Speculators reduce short dollar positions-CFTC

NEW YORK, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Currency speculators trimmed
their bets against the dollar in the latest week, according to
Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.

The value of the U.S. dollar's net short position fell to
$8.98 billion in the week ending Aug. 18, from a net short
position of $9.8 billion in the week ending Aug. 11.

The aggregate U.S. dollar position is derived from the net
positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the
yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian, and Australian
dollars.

JAPANESE YEN (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen)

8/18/09 week 8/11/09 week 8/04/09 week

Long 25,121 24,019 28,269

Short 22,768 23,195 17,654

Net 2,353 824 10,615

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)

8/18/09 week 8/11/09 week 8/04/09 week

Long 38,823 46,396 61,443

Short 33,091 29,585 34,337

Net 5,732 16,811 27,106

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)

8/18/09 week 8/11/09 week 8/04/09 week

Long 26,849 24,568 36,683

Short 28,507 28,824 38,911

Net -1,658 -4,256 -2,228

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)

8/18/09 week 8/11/09 week 8/04/09 week

Long 12,121 10,962 21,341

Short 5,366 10,999 6,829

Net 6,755 -37 14,512

CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)

8/18/09 week 8/11/09 week 8/04/09 week

Long 48,058 47,947 58,426

Short 10,600 14,058 21,834

Net 37,458 33,889 36,592

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)

8/18/09 week 8/11/09 week 8/04/09 week

Long 51,792 57,276 56,300

Short 7,672 8,430 9,890

Net 44,120 48,846 46,410

MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)

8/18/09 week 8/11/09 week 8/04/09 week

Long 72,367 57,266 45,350

Short 7,954 8,804 9,419

Net 64,413 48,462 35,931

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

8/18/09 week 8/11/09 week 8/04/09 week

Long 18,515 19,896 18,975

Short 1,079 1,085 775

Net 17,436 18,811 18,200
(Reporting by Nick Olivari; Editing by Dan Grebler)