UPDATE 1-Speculators' long dollar bets rise in latest week -CFTC

NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Currency speculators increased
bets in favor of the U.S. dollar in the latest week, according
to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released
on Friday and Reuters calculations.
The value of the dollar's net long position rose to $9.87
billion in the week ended Nov. 1. Net long dollar positions
stood at $8.92 billion a week earlier.
Speculators more than halved bets in favor of the Japanese
yen, to 25,409 contracts in the latest week from 54,279 the
prior week, which was the highest since the beginning of
August.
The shift came after Japanese authorities this week
intervened unilaterally to weaken the yen.
The dollar hit an all-time low of 75.311 yen on electronic
trading platform EBS before the intervention .
To be short a currency is to bet it will decline in value,
while being long is a view its value will rise.
The decline in non-commercial net long yen positions
reflects a decrease of 32,328 long positions to 43,671
contracts, and a fall of 3,953 short positions to 17,767
contracts.
A trader is classified as "non-commercial" if the trader is
not using futures contracts in a particular currency for
hedging purposes. Non-commercial speculators take the risks.
Yen open interest fell 27,517 contracts to 138,045
contracts.
Long yen contracts were 31.6 percent of open interest while
short positions represented 12.9 percent of open interest.
Open interest is taken as a sign of the strength in a given
price movement, though not an indication of direction.
Increasing open interest is said by analysts to illustrate
strength behind the price movement, while a drop shows
weakening price movement.
A rise in open interest also indicates that the security is
being actively traded, while a decline would show less
activity.
Net short euro bets fell to 60,060 contracts from
76,512 in the prior week despite ongoing uncertainty about the
sovereign debt crisis.
The decline in non-commercial net short positions reflects
an increase of 4,988 long positions to 26,311 contracts, and a
fall of 11,464 short positions to 86,371 contracts.
Euro open interest fell 4,545 contracts to 231,229
contracts.
Long euro contracts were 11.4 percent of open interest
while short positions represented 37.4 percent of open
interest.
The Reuters calculation for the aggregate U.S. dollar
position is derived from 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)
11/01/11 week 10/25/11 week
Long 43,671 75,999
Short 17,767 21,720
Net 25,904 54,279
EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)
11/01/11 week 10/25/11 week
Long 26,311 21,323
Short 86,371 97,835
Net -60,060 -76,512
POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)
11/01/11 week 10/25/11 week
Long 24,396 18,917
Short 71,488 69,064
Net -47,092 -50,147
SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)
11/01/11 week 10/25/11 week
Long 3,224 5,077
Short 4,970 6,280
Net -1,746 -1,203
CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)
11/01/11 week 10/25/11 week
Long 27,420 25,368
Short 42,240 43,291
Net -14,820 -17,923
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)
11/01/11 week 10/25/11 week
Long 56,797 45,831
Short 30,931 22,760
Net 25,866 23,071
MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)
11/01/11 week 10/25/11 week
Long 10,195 10,160
Short 36,783 37,215
Net -26,588 -27,055
NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand
dollars)
11/01/11 week 10/25/11 week
Long 13,394 13,298
Short 2,739 4,079
Net 10,655 9,219