Further evidence that the euro might have peaked against the dollar arrived over the weekend as figures from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange showed that speculative investors were net sellers of the single currency for the second week running.

Data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, widely regarded as a proxy for hedge fund activity, showed that currency traders on the CME were betting on a decline in the euro for the first time since December 2005 in the week to April 29.

That trend continued in the week to May 6 as figures released late on Friday revealed that traders remained sellers of the euro against the dollar.

Analysts said the news reflected a sharp deterioration in economic data from the eurozone, which has raised fears of spillover from the slowdown in the US.

It has seen the euro drop sharply by almost 4 per cent from the record high of $1.6018 it hit against the dollar at the end of last month.

This has been despite the European Central Bank’s continued reluctance to signal a cut in rates as it has maintained that the risks of rising inflation outweighed those of a slowdown.

Hans Redeker at BNP Paribas said he expected the euro to continue down, especially given last Friday’s warning from the European Central Bank that credit conditions were set to tighten in the second quarter. “With banks less willing to make loans, the eurozone economy is set to slow,” he said. “We expect data to weaken quickly, forcing the ECB to signal a rate cut when it comes back from its summer break.”

In contrast, the dollar has found support from signals from the Federal Reserve that it has paused in its aggressive monetary easing cycle that has seen US interest rates tumble 325 basis points since the start of the credit crisis. Overall bets against the dollar stood at half the record levels they hit in March.

While CFTC figures showed a modest increase in short dollar positions against commodity currencies such as the Australian dollar and Canadian dollar, against other major currencies such as the yen, Swiss franc and pound, speculative investors bought dollars in the week to May 6.