UPDATE 1-Specs trim bets vs dollar, get short sterling-CFTC

NEW YORK, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Currency speculators reduced their bets against
the U.S. dollar in the latest week and built up the largest short sterling
position since last June, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission released on Friday.
The value of the dollar's net short position fell to $3.02 billion in the
week ended Feb. 12, from $9.15 billion the previous week.
Much of the dollar's gain came at the expense of the British pound sterling.
Short contracts on the UK currency swelled to 16,776, the most since mid-June
2012.
The Bank of England said last week it wold reinvest its government bond
holdings as they mature next month and promised to provide more stimulus if
needed to boost economic recovery.
To be short a currency is to bet it will decline in value, while being long
is a view its value will rise.
Speculators cut bets against the Japanese yen but remained short to the tune
of 61,306 contracts. Plans for aggressive monetary easing in Japan have sent the
yen down sharply against the dollar and euro in recent weeks and caused
consternation among some countries who feel Tokyo is deliberately weakening its
currency to get a trade advantage.
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)
2/12/13 week 2/05/13 week
Long 55,782 50,667
Short 117,088 119,080
Net -61,306 -68,413

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros)
2/12/13 week 2/05/13 week
Long 87,135 97,397
Short 62,954 59,445
Net 24,181 37,952

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling)
2/12/13 week 2/05/13 week
Long 38,661 51,959
Short 55,437 50,785
Net -16,776 1,174

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs)
2/12/13 week 2/05/13 week
Long 12,113 13,091
Short 7,561 9,215
Net 4,552 3,876

CANADA DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars)
2/12/13 week 2/05/13 week
Long 39,324 44,538
Short 12,759 16,777
Net 26,565 27,761

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars)
2/12/13 week 2/05/13 week
Long 99,758 122,609
Short 45,644 41,669
Net 54,114 80,940

MEXICO PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos)
2/12/13 week 2/05/13 week
Long 131,615 150,495
Short 7,036 8,993
Net 124,579 141,502

NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 NZ dollars)
2/12/13 week 2/05/13 week
Long 24,898 26,343
Short 3,560 3,643
Net 21,338 22,700