UPDATE 1-Specs trim short US dollar bets in latest week-CFTC, Reuters

NEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Currency speculators pared bets against the U.S.
dollar in the latest week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission released on Friday.
The value of the dollar's net short position fell to $8.86 billion in the
week ended Jan. 29, from shorts of $13.26 billion the previous week. It was the
eighth straight week of net short bets on the dollar.
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.
Bets on the euro or longs rose to 27,472 contracts this week from 21,381
previously.
"A rising net long euro position ... suggests that investors remain biased
toward further upside as euro heads toward levels not seen since late 2011,"
said Camilla Sutton, chief currency strategist, at Scotia Capital in Toronto.
She added that the euro position was balanced, which reduces the risk of a
rapid unwinding. "There remains considerable scope for additional short-covering
given the (roughly) 66,000 gross short position."
Yen shorts, meanwhile, rose in the latest week, with 71,246 contracts from
shorts of 64,068 the previous week.

JAPAN YEN (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) 9,815,661,853.85
1/29/13 week 1/22/13 week
Long 48,476 41,983
Short 119,722 106,051
Net -71,246 -64,068

EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) -4,632,809,400.00
1/29/13 week 1/22/13 week
Long 93,791 83,840
Short 66,319 62,459
Net 27,472 21,381

POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) -1,046,399,775.00
1/29/13 week 1/22/13 week
Long 57,989 60,201
Short 47,367 42,263
Net 10,622 17,938

SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) -562,913,907.28
1/29/13 week 1/22/13 week
Long 11,994 15,232
Short 7,846 8,848
Net 4,148 6,384

CANADA DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canada dollars) -3,502,897,681.85
1/29/13 week 1/22/13 week
Long 53,915 66,225
Short 18,858 8,273
Net 35,057 57,952

AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) -8,934,756,000.00
1/29/13 week 1/22/13 week
Long 124,520 143,776
Short 39,224 46,765
Net 85,296 97,011

MEXICO PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) -5,854,839,344.00
1/29/13 week 1/22/13 week
Long 156,862 159,909
Short 7,991 9,872
Net 148,871 150,037

NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 NZ dollars) -1,830,580,560.00
1/29/13 week 1/22/13 week
Long 26,830 28,815
Short 5,014 5,283
Net 21,816 23,532