UPDATE 1-U.S. dollar net shorts fall to lowest since June 2018

(New throughout) By Kate Duguid NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. dollar net short positioning fell in the latest week to the smallest short position since June 2018, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday. The value of the net short dollar position dropped to $6.088 billion in the week ended April 13, from $6.103 billion the previous week. Short bets on the greenback have declined for seven straight weeks. Net positions in the dollar were last long just before the start of the coronavirus pandemic. 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 wider 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 short position of $5.711 billion this week, from net shorts of $7.747 billion the week before. Higher Treasury yields in the first quarter helped the dollar rebound, after it had slumped through much of 2020. But the move in yields has stabilized since April 1 and the U.S. dollar has fallen with it. That move, however, has yet to show up in speculative positioning. Against a basket of six rival currencies, the U.S. dollar was down 0.71% for the week, its second consecutive weekly fall. The dollar index is up 1.73% in the year to date, compared with a decline of nearly 7% last year. Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) Net dollar long by $6.684 billion 13 Apr 2021 Prior week week Long 27,682 26,794 Short 85,994 84,783 Net -58,312 -57,989 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) Net dollar short by $-9.983 billion 13 Apr 2021 Prior week week Long 190,640 192,230 Short 123,789 124,708 Net 66,851 67,522 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) Net dollar short by $-2.199 billion 13 Apr 2021 Prior week week Long 52,851 45,270 Short 27,261 25,319 Net 25,590 19,951 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) Net dollar short by $-0.112 billion 13 Apr 2021 Prior week week Long 12,965 15,690 Short 12,141 12,445 Net 824 3,245 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) Net dollar short by $-0.192 billion 13 Apr 2021 Prior week week Long 48,056 47,506 Short 45,650 44,816 Net 2,406 2,690 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) Net dollar short by $-0.287 billion 13 Apr 2021 Prior week week Long 64,031 62,991 Short 60,272 58,925 Net 3,759 4,066 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) Net dollar long by $-0.298 billion 13 Apr 2021 Prior week week Long 63,387 57,610 Short 75,365 70,752 Net -11,978 -13,142 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) Net dollar short by $-0.178 billion 13 Apr 2021 Prior week week Long 19,727 19,199 Short 17,207 16,061 Net 2,520 3,138 (Reporting by Kate Duguid; Editing by Leslie Adler and Diane Craft)