Markets & Finance News

Speculators slashed net long positions on the U.S. dollar in the latest week to their lowest level since last August, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net long position slid to $6.48 billion in the week ended June 13, from $8.0 billion the previous week. Up until the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike on Wednesday, the dollar had been on a declining trend this year amid a spate of soft data such as U.S. inflation and non-farm payrolls. Aside from the rate increase, the Fed also maintained its outlook for a total of three interest rate increases this year as well as three more projected for 2018. It also announced a quicker-than-expected start to the unwinding its balance sheet beginning this year. The Fed viewed the U.S. economy's soft patch as temporary in nature and should not affect its tightening stance. Analysts said this should help the dollar's prospects. "A dovish Bank of Japan and European Central Bank have helped support the dollar with dollar/yen and euro/dollar showing possible reversal signs in their respective bearish and bullish trends," said London-based Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at Forex.com. "Thus, the dollar may be able to appreciate despite the weakness in U.S. macro figures. For now, investors are giving the Fed the benefit of the doubt – only just." The dollar index so far this year though was still down nearly 5.0 percent, on track for its worst yearly performance in 10 years. Euro net longs, meanwhile, rose to a more than six-year high, with 79,053 contracts, CFTC data showed. Ahead of the Fed's midweek rate meeting, the euro had climbed to highs for the year against the dollar, in line with increasing long speculative positioning on the currency. Friday's data from Europe, however, suggested little scope for the ECB to back off its low rate policies as inflation was confirmed at a slower rate of 1.4 percent annually in May, below the bank's target, said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst, at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington. In other currencies, sterling net shorts rose to their largest since early May, with 39,441 contracts. The pound has been under a cloud of political uncertainty after Prime Minister Theresa May weakened her mandate with a disappointing performance in last week's UK election. Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $5.742 billion 13 Jun 2017 Prior week week Long 34,160 39,736 Short 84,713 94,763 Net -50,553 -55,027 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) $-11.081 billion 13 Jun 2017 Prior week week Long 164,227 164,889 Short 85,174 90,880 Net 79,053 74,009 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) $3.143 billion 13 Jun 2017 Prior week week Long 40,552 40,147 Short 79,993 76,863 Net -39,441 -36,716 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) $1.866 billion 13 Jun 2017 Prior week week Long 8,518 6,752 Short 22,978 23,307 Net -14,460 -16,555 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) $6.691 billion 13 Jun 2017 Prior week week Long 26,781 26,492 Short 115,376 120,993 Net -88,595 -94,501 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) $0.114 billion 13 Jun 2017 Prior week week Long 33,134 39,101 Short 34,645 39,215 Net -1,511 -114 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) $-2.654 billion 13 Jun 2017 Prior week week Long 123,468 115,601 Short 27,654 30,780 Net 95,814 84,821 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) $-0.115 billion 13 Jun 2017 Prior week week Long 27,261 19,348 Short 25,666 21,133 Net 1,595 -1,785 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; editing by Diane Craft)

* U.S. stocks end flat, though Amazon.com, Whole Foods deal weighs

Speculators slashed net long positions on the U.S. dollar in the latest week to their lowest level since last August, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the dollar's net long position slid to $6.48 billion in the week ended June 13, from $8.0 billion the previous week. Euro net longs, meanwhile, rose to a more than six-year high, CFTC data showed. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss)

The dollar fell broadly on Friday after weaker-than-forecast data on housing and consumer sentiment cast a risk-off sentiment over U.S. assets. The greenback gave back most of the previous day's gains, easing toward levels from earlier this week that were the lowest since November. Disappointing economic readings and the lack of progress on fiscal stimulus from Washington have overshadowed the likelihood of more rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. The government said U.S. home construction fell in May for a third straight month, to its lowest in eight months. The University of Michigan said its gauge on consumer sentiment deteriorated in early June. "It raises some doubt on U.S. growth for the rest of the year," said Minh Trang, senior currency trader at Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California. The dollar index was down 0.3 percent at 97.126, and on track for a 0.14 percent decline on the week. The dour U.S. data boosted the yen, which had slid to a two-week low versus the dollar. "The move in the yen very much coincided with a strengthening of bonds in the U.S., which also coincided with a selling off in (U.S.) equity markets," said Axel Merk, president and portfolio manager at Merk Hard Currency Fund in Palo Alto, California. "My guess would be that the risk-off environment prevailed." Earlier, the yen had weakened after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said there was "some distance" to achieving the BoJ's inflation target of 2 percent, and it was "inappropriate" to say how the Bank would exit its massive stimulus program as domestic inflation has remained sluggish. That ran contrary to market speculation in the past month that the BoJ could be considering its own plan for eventually withdrawing emergency stimulus for the world's third largest economy. The euro rose 0.35 percent against the yen to 124.04 yen after touching a near two-week high earlier Friday. The common currency was up 0.4 percent versus the dollar at $1.1191, but about a cent below a seven-month peak of $1.1296 hit before the Fed's widely expected rate hike on Wednesday. Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct YTD Pct Previous Change Change Session Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.1196 $1.1143 +0.48 +6.50 Dollar/Yen JPY= 110.7800 110.9100 -0.12 -5.21 Euro/Yen EURJPY= 124.04 123.63 +0.33 +0.73 Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9732 0.9750 -0.18 -4.38 Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.2788 1.2754 +0.27 +3.66 Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.3217 1.3268 -0.38 -1.59 Australian/Dollar AUD= 0.7623 0.7576 +0.62 +5.65 Euro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.0896 1.0868 +0.26 +1.67 Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.8753 0.8737 +0.18 +2.76 NZ Dollar/Dolar NZD= 0.7254 0.7206 +0.67 +4.51 Dollar/Norway NOK= 8.4438 8.5054 -0.72 -2.24 Euro/Norway EURNOK= 9.4559 9.4785 -0.24 +4.07 Dollar/Sweden SEK= 8.7055 8.7500 -0.07 -4.42 Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 9.7455 9.7528 -0.07 +1.73 (Reporting by Dion Rabouin; Additional reporting by Ritvik Carvalho in London, Tokyo Markets team; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio) ))

* Bond yields also down after data; oil edges higher (Updates with U.S. trading; changes dateline, previous LONDON)

The dollar fell against a basket of currencies on Friday on weaker-than-forecast data on housing and consumer sentiment, while the yen weakened after the Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady and signaled it was in no hurry to tighten policy. The greenback has hovered near its lowest since November as a batch of disappointing economic readings, together with the lack of progress on fiscal stimulus from Washington, have overshadowed the outlook on more rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Earlier Friday, the government said U.S. home construction fell for a third consecutive month in May to its lowest in eight months, while the University of Michigan said its gauge on consumer sentiment deteriorated in early June. "It raises some doubt on U.S. growth for the rest of the year," said Minh Trang, senior currency trader at Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, California. At 11:35 a.m. EDT (1535 GMT), the dollar index was down 0.3 percent at 97.126, putting it on track for a 0.15 percent decline on the week. Friday's dour U.S. data helped erase the greenback's initial gains against the yen, which had slid to a two-week low versus the dollar. The yen weakened with the Bank of Japan nowhere close to the Federal Reserve's path to normalize monetary policy as domestic inflation has remained sluggish. Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said there was "some distance" to achieving the BoJ's inflation target of 2 percent, and it was "inappropriate" to say how the Bank would exit its massive stimulus program. That ran contrary to market speculation in the past month the BoJ could be considering its own plan for eventually withdrawing emergency stimulus for the world's third largest economy. The yen was about half a percent lower to 111.41 per dollar in London before rebounding to 110.80 yen in later New York trading, Reuters data showed. "The theme continues to be the potential for further yen weakness because they (the BoJ) are still grappling with the deflationary mindset of the Japanese consumer," said Martin Arnold, FX strategist at ETF Securities in London. The euro was up 0.3 percent to 123.97 yen after touching a near two-week high at 124.45 yen earlier Friday. The common currency was up 0.4 percent at $1.1191, but about a cent below a seven-month peak of $1.1296 hit before the Fed's widely expected rate hike on Wednesday. ======================================================== Currency bid prices at 11:50AM (1550 GMT) Description RIC Last U.S. Close Pct Change YTD Pct Previous Change Session Euro/Dollar EUR= $1.1187 $1.1143 +0.39% +6.41% Dollar/Yen JPY= 110.8200 110.9100 -0.08% -5.18% Euro/Yen EURJPY= 123.99 123.63 +0.29% +0.69% Dollar/Swiss CHF= 0.9742 0.9750 -0.08% -4.28% Sterling/Dollar GBP= 1.2776 1.2754 +0.17% +3.57% Dollar/Canadian CAD= 1.3237 1.3268 -0.23% -1.44% Australian/Doll AUD= 0.7620 0.7576 +0.58% +5.61% ar Euro/Swiss EURCHF= 1.0898 1.0868 +0.28% +1.69% Euro/Sterling EURGBP= 0.8754 0.8737 +0.19% +2.77% NZ Dollar/Dolar NZD= 0.7248 0.7206 +0.58% +4.42% Dollar/Norway NOK= 8.4562 8.5054 -0.58% -2.09% Euro/Norway EURNOK= 9.4596 9.4785 -0.20% +4.11% Dollar/Sweden SEK= 8.7026 8.7500 -0.16% -4.45% Euro/Sweden EURSEK= 9.7375 9.7528 -0.16% +1.65% (Additional reporting by Ritvik Carvalho in London, Tokyo Markets team; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Chris Reese) ))

* Stays bearish on oil outlook (Adds CBR governor, analyst, detail)

World shares steadied on Friday after selling in the tech sector triggered their biggest fall in over a month, while the yen slid to a two-week low as the Bank of Japan signalled its stimulus was staying in place.

Purchases of foreign currency to replenish Russia's central bank reserves are unlikely this year, Central Bank governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Friday.

The task of Russia's central bank is to make sure that inflation expectations keep falling in the economy, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Friday.