THE pound moved sharply higher yesterday after the latest Brexit polls indicated the “remain” campaign has regained some lost ground ahead of Thursday’s key referendum.

    Sterling traded at US$1.4604, up 1.7 percent from US$1.4359 late Friday in New York. On an intraday level, the pound touched US$1.4624, the highest its been since June 7, according to FactSet data. The pound also jumped against the euro, fetching 1.2870 euros.

    The rally came after a Survation poll published in the Mail on Sunday showed 45 percent of respondents want Britain to remain part of the European Union, compared with 42 percent in favor of leaving.

    The results mark a reversal from another Survation poll out Thursday last week, which put the Brexit camp in the lead at 45 percent, with the “stay” side lagging behind at 42 percent.

    Other polls out over the weekend also suggested a shift in public sentiment, with the “remain” side coming back from a slide in support over the past two weeks. However, the difference between the two sides is still small, suggesting it will be an extremely tight vote.

    “The shift in support back to the ‘remain’ camp appears to match the trend of the Scottish referendum, whereby there was a swing back towards the status quo in the days ahead of the poll as voters appeared to become more averse to the risks of dramatic change,” said analysts at Daiwa Capital Markets in a note.

    They also noted that the growth in support for the pro-EU campaign partly is a reaction to Thursday’s murder of British Member of Parliament Jo Cox, who was a vocal “remain” campaigner.

    The pound dropped to as low as US$1.401 Thursday, marking a more-than two-month low against the U.S. dollar.

    The shift in Brexit sentiment was also seen in other currencies yesterday. The Japanese yen, seen as a safe haven and doing particularly well in times of uncertainty, lost ground, sliding against all other major currencies. The dollar bought yen 104.53, up from 104.16 Friday. (SD-Agencies)