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UPDATE 1-U.S. dollar net longs jump to highest since mid-June 2019 - CFTC, Reuters data

(Adds table, details, bitcoin futures, analyst comments) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Speculators' net long positioning on the U.S. dollar in the latest week soared to its highest level since mid-June 2019, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the net long dollar position was $23.99 billion for the week ended Nov. 30, up from net longs of $22.11 billion in the previous week. U.S. dollar net long positioning rose for a second straight week. U.S. dollar positioning was derived from net contracts of International Monetary Market speculators in the Japanese yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, as well as Canadian and Australian dollars. In a broader measure of dollar positioning, which includes net contracts on the New Zealand dollar, Mexican peso, Brazilian real and Russian rouble, the greenback posted a net long position of $24.435 billion this week, from $21.964 billion in the prior week. U.S. dollar net longs increased after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered hawkish testimonies early this week despite the emergence of the highly-transmissible Omicron coronavirus variant. "Against all the currencies covered in this report, only the yen saw an improvement in its position against the dollar as investors likely turned to its safety amid heightened risk aversion with the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant," said Scotiabank in its report after the release of the CFTC data. Net shorts on the Japanese yen declined to 78,866 contracts this week. In remarks before Congress, Fed's Powell said the risk of inflation had increased and suggested retiring the term "transitory" to describe the surge in prices. He also pushed for accelerating the tapering of Fed asset purchases. The dollar index hit its highest level since July 2020 last week, before ending broadly unchanged this week. Jane Foley, head of FX strategy, at Rabobank in London, said it would be difficult for the dollar to post further gains. "Although Powell's hawkish tone this week brought back the risk that the Fed could hike rates twice next year, the market is already priced for this," she added. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin futures' net short positions ballooned to 1,691 contracts, after falling as low as 160 contracts last week, the smallest since mid-January 2019. As with many risk assets, bitcoin has been affected by worries about the Omicron variant. Since its all-time high of $69,000 hit on Nov. 10, bitcoin has dropped more than 25%, with some market participants suggesting that the world's largest cryptocurrency has entered a bear market. On Friday, bitcoin hit its lowest level since Oct. 10 and was last down 4.7% at $53,897. Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $8.714 billion 30 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 14,585 20,285 Short 93,451 117,538 Net -78,866 -97,253 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) $3.293 billion 30 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 191,048 204,214 Short 214,288 220,666 Net -23,240 -16,452 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) $3.232 billion 30 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 52,099 50,122 Short 90,998 84,701 Net -38,899 -34,579 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) $1.93 billion 30 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 3,927 6,241 Short 18,109 17,617 Net -14,182 -11,376 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) $1.102 billion 30 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 41,242 44,320 Short 55,317 47,455 Net -14,075 -3,135 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) $5.712 billion 30 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 33,217 40,523 Short 113,402 103,788 Net -80,185 -63,265 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) $1.394 billion 30 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 85,840 80,691 Short 145,587 130,152 Net -59,747 -49,461 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) $-0.725 billion 30 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 30,465 27,835 Short 19,835 13,896 Net 10,630 13,939 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Amy Caren Daniel)