May 23 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar is poised for its longest winning streak against the euro since 2000 as some investors say the U.S. currency's three-year bear market has ended, a Bloomberg News survey showed.

Fifty-nine percent of the 54 strategists, investors and traders polled on May 20 from Sydney to New York advised buying the dollar against the euro. Thirty-seven percent said the dollar will rise versus the yen, while 24 percent said it may drop.

``The bear market has been broken,'' said Thanos Papasavvas, head of currency management in London at Credit Suisse Asset Management, which oversees $310 billion. He said he decided on May 19 to invest in the dollar advancing against the euro.

The dollar may gain against the euro for a fifth week on speculation reports will show the U.S. economy grew faster last quarter than initially estimated and durable goods orders recovered from a decline in March. The euro is weakening as Europe's economy falters and polls show French voters will reject the European Union constitution in a referendum on May 29.

``We've been dollar sellers over the last couple of years and now we've changed our position,'' said Murray Gunn, director of currencies in Edinburgh at Standard Life Investments, which manages about $193 billion. ``One of the reasons the euro has been having a hard time over the past few weeks has been the referendum and the fact there may be a no vote.''

Against the euro, the dollar climbed 0.6 percent to $1.2557 last week, according to electronic currency trading system EBS. It rose as high as $1.2536 on May 20, the strongest in seven months. The U.S. currency rallied 0.8 percent to 108.16 yen.

`Decent Growth'

Gunn said the dollar may rise to $1.20 per euro in the next month, up 14 percent from a record low of $1.3666 on Dec. 30. Survey participants also recommended buying the dollar against the British pound, Swiss franc and Australian dollar.

``The U.S. is posting decent growth numbers, certainly better than in Europe,'' said Toru Umemoto, a currency strategist in Tokyo at Barclays Capital. ``The dollar still has room to move up. It could accelerate in the next week.''

German business confidence probably held near a 19-month low in May, the Ifo institute will say on May 25, according to the median forecast of economists polled by Bloomberg. The ZEW Center for European Economic Research may report tomorrow that its index of German investor sentiment remained near the weakest in four months, a separate economist survey indicated.

``The fundamentals in euro land are getting weaker,'' said Papasavvas. ``We have moved to long dollar and short euros.'' A long position is a wager on a currency's advance and a short position anticipates a decline.

French Vote

The dollar rose to a seven-month high against the euro on May 20 after opinion polls bolstered speculation voters will reject the EU constitution in referendums in France and the Netherlands on May 29 and June 1, respectively.

Opposition in France rose to 53 percent from 52 percent, according to a survey by polling company BVA published last week. Twice as many Dutch people say they will reject as those who will support it, a poll by TNS NIPO showed the same day.

``The no vote is gaining a little bit of steam,'' said Enrico Caruso, chief trader at currency hedge fund Tempest Asset Management in Newport Beach, California. The decline in the euro ``has been orderly, but there's going to be a breaking point soon. That's where you would see a free-for-all.''

`Quite Extreme'

Bloomberg's weekly currency survey accurately predicted last week that the dollar would gain versus the euro and yen. It correctly forecast the direction of the dollar in 17 of the past 26 weeks versus the euro and in 12 weeks against the yen.

The dollar's advance may be limited because too many traders are betting on its rise, said Benedikt Germanier, a currency strategist in Zurich at UBS AG.

Futures traders increased their bets that the euro will decline against the U.S. dollar, figures from the Washington- based Commodity Futures Trading Commission show.

``The dollar's rally is a little bit under threat,'' said Germanier. ``We are a bit oversold on the euro, positioning is quite extreme.''

The difference in the number of wagers by hedge funds and other large speculators on a decline in the euro compared with those on a gain -- so-called net shorts -- was 13,488 on May 17, compared with 1,544 a week earlier and net longs of 4,875 two weeks ago. It's only the sixth time in three years the data have shown a net short position in the euro.

The dollar is up 7.9 percent versus the euro and 5.4 percent against the yen this year as the Federal Reserve indicates it will keep increasing its target rate for overnight loans between banks. The European Central Bank hasn't touched its benchmark rate for almost two years. The dollar dropped for three years through 2004 amid a combination of record trade and fiscal deficits and the lowest interest rates in four decades.

Yield Advantage

The spread between yields on two-year U.S. Treasury notes and similar maturity German debt has widened to 1.39 percentage points on May 20, near the biggest gap since 2000. In September, there was no difference between the two.

``It takes some time for the market to believe that interest- rate differentials are enough to offset other factors such as the current account, but now people are finally coming around to that view,'' said Standard Life's Gunn.

The following are the results of Bloomberg's survey showing the number of recommendations for major currencies:

                      BUY      SELL      HOLD

Euro                   12        32        10
Yen                    13        20        21
British pound           9        33        11
Swiss franc            16        24        11
Australian dollar      11        30        10

Euro versus yen       BUY      SELL      HOLD

                       13        17        16

To contact the reporter on this story: Joshua Krongold in New York at at jkrongold2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 22, 2005 15:27 EDT