The British pound eased against the dollar on Tuesday, a day after posting its biggest daily gain in 7 years on the back of opinion polls that swung in favor of the campaign for Britain to stay in the European Union.
Two opinion polls on Monday showed that the “Remain” camp has recovered some ground in Britain’s European Union referendum debate.
The implied probability of a “Remain” vote in Thursday’s referendum rose to around 78 percent after falling as low as 60 percent last Thursday, according to odds from gaming website Betfair. For the latest Reuters news on the referendum including full multimedia coverage, click
The British pound GBP=D4 eased 0.1 percent in Asian trade to $1.4658, having pulled back from a three-week high of $1.4721 set on Monday. It rose 2.1 percent on Monday, its biggest daily gain since late 2008.
The euro rose 0.5 percent against sterling to 77.31 pence EURGBP=D4, regaining a bit of ground after setting a near three-week low of 76.925 pence EURGBP=D4 on Monday.
Against the dollar, the euro EUR= edged up 0.1 percent to $1.1326 EUR=.
The dollar index =USD .DXY stood at 93.582, holding above a one-month low of 93.425 hit earlier this month, as the market awaited U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee at 10 a.m. local time (1400 GMT).
The dollar edged up 0.1 percent to 104.01 yen JPY=. Earlier on Tuesday, the dollar slipped to 103.58 yen, bringing the yen close to its 22-month high of 103.555 set last Thursday.
“At the root of the yen’s strength lie diminishing yield gaps between Japan and the U.S. Since expectations of further easing in Japan have waned, Japanese exporters’ bids tend to support the yen,” said Koichi Yoshikawa, executive director of finance at Standard Chartered Bank.
After the yen’s latest rise, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday that Japan would respond to rapid currency moves in line with G7/G20 agreements, although the country would not intervene in the market so “easily”.
The dollar briefly fell from around 104.10 yen to 103.85 yen or so after Aso’s comments, but later stabilized.
EUR / USD: during the Asian session, the pair was trading in the $ 1.1310-30
GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair is trading in the range of $ 1.4640-1.4710
USD / JPY: during the Asian session, the pair was trading in range Y103.60-104.45
Based on Reuters materials
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