Citigroup’s hedge fund clients sold the dollar around Supreme Court tariff ruling

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Citigroup’s hedge fund clients sold the dollar around Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, according to a note from the U.S. bank shared with Reuters late on Monday. 

The dollar fell in volatile trading on Friday after the Supreme Court struck down the tariffs based on a national emergency law.

“Citi’s hedge fund clients were net USD (dollar) sellers around and after the tariff ruling,” Kristjan Kasikov, global head of Citi FX Quant Investor Solutions, said in the note, adding the Australian dollar was the most bought currency among major currency pairs. 

“Emerging markets currencies, particularly in Asia and Latin America also saw some inflows,” Kasikov added.

Citi noted that, given that the Supreme Court ruling outcome had been expected, the trading volumes it saw were broadly in line with past trading activity.

The note added that even after Friday’s dollar move, Citi’s currency positioning indicator pointed to moderate long dollar positions, driven by hedge-fund and real-money client flows. 

A long position is a bet that an asset will rise in value. 

(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Amanda Cooper)