FOREX-Dollar slips as Chinese data improves

* Dollar down against most major currencies
* Speculators increase net short positions on dollar
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

By Olga Cotaga
LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - The dollar fell Tuesday, much
to the enjoyment of sterling and Australian dollar holders,
after better-than-expected economic data from China which
painted a less gloomy picture of the new coronavirus' economic
fallout than markets had feared.
China's March exports fell 6.6% from a year earlier,
compared with a forecast for a 14% drop and imports fell by less
than 1%, compared with a 9.5% drop anticipated by economists.
Daily fatalities in the United States also fell sharply and
states began plans to re-open their economies, leaving traders
to abandon the safety net of the most liquid currency - the
dollar - and turn to more risky currencies.
The Australian dollar rose to a more than one-month high of
0.6432 per U.S. dollar AUD=D3 and was last up 0.5%.
Sterling went up by the same magnitute, touching $1.2575,
its highest since March 13, up 0.5% on the day GBP=D3 . The
pound had been closely linked to the performance of the equity
market for the past weeks.
The euro inched higher by 0.2% to $1.0932 EUR=EBS .
The only currency the dollar was down against in the major
economies was the Japanese yen, which rose 0.1% versus the
greenback to 107.69 yen JPY=EBS .
"The ongoing improvement in global investor risk sentiment
in the near-term combined with the Fed's aggressive policy
response is beginning to weigh down more on the U.S. dollar,"
said Lee Hardman, currency analyst at MUFG.
The mood in the forex markets was preempted by leveraged
funds last week, whose net short U.S. dollar positioning in the
latest week touched their largest level since May 2018,
according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures
Trading Commission data released on Friday.
The value of the net short dollar position was $10.5 billion
in the week ended on April 7, from net shorts of $9.9 billion
the previous week. Speculators have been short on the U.S.
dollar for four consecutive weeks. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Speculators go even shorter on US dollar IMAGE https://reut.rs/2RBr3TS
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