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CORRECTED-UPDATE 1-U.S. dollar net longs climb to highest since early March 2020 -CFTC, Reuters

(Corrects dollar positioning to net long in 2nd paragraph) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, July 30 (Reuters) - U.S. dollar net longs rose in the latest week to their highest level since early March last year, according to Reuters calculations and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the net long dollar position advanced to $2.99 billion in the week ended July 27, from net longs of $399.69 million the previous week. U.S. dollar positioning flipped to net longs last week after being net short for 16 months. U.S. dollar positioning was derived from net contracts of International Monetary Market speculators in the Japanese yen, euro, British pound and Swiss franc, as well as the Canadian and Australian dollars. In a broader measure of dollar positioning that includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian ruble, the greenback posted a net long position of $2.88 billion this week, compared with net longs of $222 million the week before. The dollar has gained ground the last few weeks on safe-haven bids on concerns about the fast-spreading Delta coronavirus variant and worries about China's economy, said Jonas Goltermann, senior markets economist, at Capital Economics. Both factors remain "wildcards that may keep the dollar strong near term." For the month of July, however, the dollar index posted a minor 0.2% decline after rising 2.8% in June. The rise in dollar longs came as longs on the euro and Canadian dollar declined, data showed. In the cryptocurrency market, bitcoin net shorts rose to 1,572 contracts in the week ended July 27, from net shorts of 1,192 the previous week. Bitcoin's bullish momentum has lost steam the last few months amid a wave of global regulatory crackdown on the crypto sector. After hitting $40,000 this week, bitcoin was unable to surge higher. It was last up 0.3% at $40,124. Since hitting an all-time high of just under $65,000 in mid-April, bitcoin has fallen about 38%. Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $6.826 billion 27 Jul 2021 Prior week week Long 32,975 35,474 Short 92,909 91,205 Net -59,934 -55,731 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) $-5.63 billion 27 Jul 2021 Prior week week Long 202,245 208,669 Short 164,119 162,847 Net 38,126 45,822 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) $0.493 billion 27 Jul 2021 Prior week week Long 41,194 44,223 Short 46,878 47,720 Net -5,684 -3,497 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) $-1.161 billion 27 Jul 2021 Prior week week Long 18,262 18,061 Short 9,773 10,019 Net 8,489 8,042 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) $-0.427 billion 27 Jul 2021 Prior week week Long 47,048 59,883 Short 41,674 46,968 Net 5,374 12,915 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) $2.896 billion 27 Jul 2021 Prior week week Long 57,415 57,072 Short 96,762 92,762 Net -39,347 -35,690 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) $0.661 billion 27 Jul 2021 Prior week week Long 65,404 66,141 Short 91,811 94,562 Net -26,407 -28,421 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) $-0.099 billion 27 Jul 2021 Prior week week Long 19,505 20,671 Short 18,084 17,625 Net 1,421 3,046 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; editing by Diane Craft and David Gregorio)