Speculators increase net short USD bets in latest week-CFTC

NEW YORK Jan 18 (Reuters) - Currency speculators increased their bets against the U.S. dollar in the latest week to the most since the week of Oct. 2, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday and Reuters calculations.

The value of the dollar's net short position rose to $12.897 billion in the week ended Jan. 15, from $6.96 billion the previous week. The value of net dollar shorts in the week ended Oct. 2 was $16.31 billion.

To be short a currency is to bet it will decline in value, while being long is a view its value will rise.

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.

JAPAN YEN (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) 9,254,195,764.81

1/15/13 week 1/08/13 week

Long 39,447 32,129

Short 105,174 106,225

Net -65,727 -74,096

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) -1,216,393,062.50

1/15/13 week 1/08/13 week

Long 80,174 66,329

Short 72,859 74,364

Net 7,315 -8,035

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) -2,845,135,200.00

1/15/13 week 1/08/13 week

Long 63,796 60,523

Short 35,458 34,574

Net 28,338 25,949

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) -1,713,082,206.48

1/15/13 week 1/08/13 week

Long 19,007 19,604

Short 6,237 9,343

Net 12,770 10,261

CANADA DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) -6,979,164,549.24

1/15/13 week 1/08/13 week

Long 73,099 70,435

Short 4,431 6,430

Net 68,668 64,005

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) -9,408,872,050.00

1/15/13 week 1/08/13 week

Long 137,090 122,343

Short 48,033 42,028

Net 89,057 80,315

MEXICO PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) -6,014,204,252.55

1/15/13 week 1/08/13 week

Long 160,543 148,293

Short 8,878 8,770

Net 151,665 139,523

NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 NZ dollars) -1,868,672,280.00

1/15/13 week 1/08/13 week

Long 29,920 26,635

Short 7,658 7,415

Net 22,262 19,220