By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
NEW YORK, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Speculators' net long bets on the U.S. dollar fell slightly in the latest week to a four-week low, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.
The value of the net long dollar position was $26.16 billion in the week ended Oct. 23, down from $27.64 billion the previous week. Speculators were net long dollars for a 19th straight week, after being short for 48 consecutive weeks.
To be long a currency means traders believe it will rise in value, while being short points to a bearish bias.
U.S. dollar positioning was derived from net contracts of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars.
In a wider measure of dollar positioning NETUSDALL= that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the U.S. dollar posted a net long position valued at $27.14 billion, compared with a net long position valued at $28.46 billion a week earlier.
On Friday, the U.S. dollar slipped from a two-month high hit earlier in the day after data showed the U.S. economy slowed less than expected in the third quarter as a tariff-related drop in soybean exports was partially offset by the strongest consumer spending in nearly four years. the week, the dollar index .DXY was up 0.7 percent, its second straight weekly gain.
"We have had things like GDP and other measures which show that the U.S. economy is still strong," said Alfonso Esparza, senior currency analyst at Oanda in Toronto.
"We have seen various comments from Fed members still sticking to the sort of gradual rate hike path," he said.
The greenback received a boost against the euro earlier this week after European data signaled that economic growth could be flagging across the euro zone. FRX/
"It's still the safest bet being long the dollar," said Esparza.
Increased volatility in equity markets this week also helped the greenback in part as risk-averse investors reached for the U.S. currency's safety, Esparza said.
In the cryptocurrency market, speculators' net short position on bitcoin Cboe futures totaled 1,058 contracts, the smallest such short position 11330E1NNET since the futures launched in December last year.
Bitcoin was little changed at $6,405 on the Bitstamp platform on Friday.
Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $10.318 billion
Oct. 23, 2018
Prior week
week
Long
29,922
30,096 Short
122,726
130,717 Net
-92,804
-100,621 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) $4.344 billion
Oct. 23, 2018
Prior week
week
Long
149,585
140,817 Short
179,889
170,161 Net
-30,304
-29,344 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) $3.813 billion
Oct. 23, 2018
Prior week
week
Long
33,299
32,153 Short
80,296
82,506 Net
-46,997
-50,353 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) $2.15 billion
Oct. 23, 2018
Prior week
week
Long
13,213
13,505 Short
30,318
30,029 Net
-17,105
-16,524 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) $0.552 billion
Oct. 23, 2018
Prior week
week
Long
32,031
32,202 Short
39,259
43,221 Net
-7,228
-11,019 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) $4.985 billion
Oct. 23, 2018
Prior week
week
Long
20,207
19,849 Short
90,575
91,340 Net
-70,368
-71,491 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) $-1.504 billion
Oct. 23, 2018
Prior week
week
Long
111,571
127,324 Short
53,544
58,749 Net
58,027
68,575 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) $2.164 billion
Oct. 23, 2018
Prior week
week
Long
9,634
11,136 Short
42,682
46,548 Net
-33,048
-35,412
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