USD Net Longs Stable, Sentiment Towards JPY, GBP and CHF Deteriorates

The latest report by Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) covering data up to March showed that investors left their net long bets on the US dollar largely unchanged at $40.86 billion from $40.81 billion the previous week against the major currencies. As is evident from the CFTC Sentiment table every currency is still held net short against the USD.

Net EUR short contracts continued to fall and EUR net short positions stood at -$24.1bn after declining $1.1bn in a week. The fall in net short positions was the result of increase in gross short positions while gross long positions rose too as investors increased exposure to EUR, reflecting improving investor sentiment after euro zone economic recovery continued as indicated particularly by accelerated growth of German economy in the fourth quarter. In contrast to previous week’s developments, the sentiment towards JPY, GBP and CHF deteriorated.

The JPY net short positions widened $0.5bn with net short bets in JPY at -$5.48bn still the second highest among the major currencies. The GBP net short positions widened by $0.47 bn, bringing it to -$2.6bn.

Investors extended their net short bets in CAD while the bearish sentiment moderated for AUD, reflecting the decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to leave the interest rate unchanged.