UPDATE 1-Speculators' net long U.S. dollar bets hit six-week high -CFTC, Reuters data

(Adds CFTC table, bitcoin futures, details, byline, analyst comment) By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Speculators' net long bets on the U.S. dollar rose to the highest level since mid-October in the latest week, according to calculations by Reuters and U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Monday. The value of the net long dollar position was $22.11 billion for the week ended Nov. 23, up from net longs of $18.30 billion in the previous week. U.S. dollar net long positioning rose for the first time in seven weeks. U.S. dollar positioning was derived from net contracts of International Monetary Market speculators in the Japanese yen, euro, British pound, Swiss franc, and Canadian and Australian dollars. In a wider 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 $21.964 billion this week, up from $17.982 billion in the prior week. The dollar largely benefited in the last few weeks from a hawkish stance by Federal Reserve policymakers in the wake of strong U.S. data, which was in contrast to more dovish rate outlooks from Europe and Japan. Fed Chair Jerome Powell's renomination last week had backed expectations that the U.S. central bank will raise interest rates multiple times next year to fend off surging inflation. That outlook could change, and with it the dollar's prospects, with the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant, which threatens to upend a budding global recovery following a two-year pandemic. Over the last three weeks, the dollar has gained about 1.3% . In other currencies, the euro's net shorts rose sharply in the latest week to 16,452 contracts. "The euro looked on track to test the $1.12 level in the days following the data cutoff amid ultra-dovish policy settings at the ECB (European Central Bank) and the risk of lockdowns in the currency zone due to surging contagions," said Scotiabank in a research note after the release of the CFTC data. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin net shorts dropped to 160 contracts, the smallest since mid-January 2019, from 1,478 contracts the previous week. The drop in net shorts came as inflows into bitcoin products and funds hit their highest in five weeks, in the week ended Nov. 26, totaling $247 million, CoinShares data showed, following the launch of another investment product in Europe. Bitcoin has seen inflows for 11 straight weeks with a total of $2.7 billion. On Nov 10, it hit an all-time peak of $69,000 and was last down 1.6% at $58,268. Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) $10.56 billion 23 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 20,285 24,635 Short 117,538 117,761 Net -97,253 -93,126 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) $2.313 billion 23 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 204,214 198,181 Short 220,666 202,007 Net -16,452 -3,826 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) $2.89 billion 23 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 50,122 50,443 Short 84,701 82,042 Net -34,579 -31,599 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) $1.524 billion 23 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 6,241 5,502 Short 17,617 14,391 Net -11,376 -8,889 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) $0.248 billion 23 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 44,320 44,147 Short 47,455 35,438 Net -3,135 8,709 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) $4.572 billion 23 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 40,523 30,760 Short 103,788 91,913 Net -63,265 -61,153 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) $1.168 billion 23 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 80,691 69,984 Short 130,152 117,639 Net -49,461 -47,655 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) $-0.968 billion 23 Nov 2021 Prior week week Long 27,835 26,388 Short 13,896 12,423 Net 13,939 13,965 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Leslie Adler)