Speculators long U.S. dollar for 1st time in six weeks-CFTC, Reuters

(Adds table, details on dollar contracts) May 27 (Reuters) - Speculators turned bullish on the U.S. dollar for the first time in six weeks, with net longs on the currency notching their largest level since late March.

More upbeat U.S. economic data as well as suggestions of a possible interest rate increase next month by several Federal Reserve officials in recent speeches have boosted sentiment on the dollar.

The value of the dollar's net long position was $3.73 billion in the week ended May 24, reversing the previous week's short position of $4.19 billion, according to Reuters calculations and data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday.

On Friday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the U.S. central bank should raise interest rates in the coming months if the economy picks up as expected and jobs continue to be generated.

Her comments echoed the sentiment of other Fed officials as well as minutes from the Fed's April 26-27 policy meeting, published last week. The minutes showed most Fed policymakers considered it appropriate to raise rates in June if data continued to point to an improvement in second-quarter growth.

As a result, Fed funds futures, based on the CME Group's FedWatch tool, moved to price in a 30 percent chance of a June hike late on Friday, up from 19 percent a week ago.

The dollar has consequently rallied nearly four percent against a basket of currencies in the last 18 days. For the month of May, the dollar was up 2.9 percent, on pace for its largest monthly gain since November.

Meanwhile, speculators slashed net long yen contracts to 22,059, from 58,919 contracts the previous week. This week's net long yen contracts were the smallest since mid-January.

Persistent warnings of intervention by the Bank of Japan to weaken the yen after its recent strength have convinced speculators to lay off the Japanese currency for now.

The Reuters calculation for the aggregate U.S. dollar position is derived from net positions of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, sterling, Swiss franc and Canadian and Australian dollars.

Japanese Yen (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) 24 May 2016 Prior week week Long 54,792 86,165 Short 32,733 27,246 Net 22,059 58,919 EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) 24 May 2016 Prior week week Long 93,955 101,723 Short 131,850 124,310 Net -37,895 -22,587 POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,500 pounds sterling) 24 May 2016 Prior week week Long 38,557 37,533 Short 71,392 75,955 Net -32,835 -38,422 SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) 24 May 2016 Prior week week Long 24,884 22,463 Short 20,930 18,316 Net 3,954 4,147 CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) 24 May 2016 Prior week week Long 32,834 37,009 Short 12,787 14,303 Net 20,047 22,706 AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) 24 May 2016 Prior week week Long 51,712 71,793 Short 51,588 46,900 Net 124 24,893 MEXICAN PESO (Contracts of 500,000 pesos) 24 May 2016 Prior week week Long 27,017 25,219 Short 74,477 70,910 Net -47,460 -45,691 NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 New Zealand dollars) 24 May 2016 Prior week week Long 30,414 32,545 Short 25,838 25,857 Net 4,576 6,688 (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrew Hay)