Investing.com - The pound rallied around 1% against the dollar on Tuesday as an opinion poll showed the Remain campaign with a narrow lead over the Leave campaign ahead of the June 23 European Union referendum.
GBP/USD hit highs of 1.4460 overnight and was last at 1.4588, up 1% from Monday’s close.
Sterling also strengthened against the euro, with EUR/GBP down 0.98% at 0.7787.
The pound was boosted after an opinion poll published in the Times newspaper late Monday showed support for remaining in the EU with a one-point lead over the ‘Leave’ campaign.
The poll was in contrast to a poll published earlier Monday in the Daily Telegraph newspaper showing that a majority are going to vote for a Brexit in the referendum.
Meanwhile, data from Betfair on Tuesday showed a 72% implied probability of Britain voting to stay in the 28 member bloc, up from 70% earlier in the day.
The dollar remained on the back foot after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen struck a mixed tone on the outlook for the economy and prospects for higher interest rates.
Speaking Monday, Yellen indicated that the U.S. central bank won’t be raising interest rates until uncertainty over the economic outlook is resolved.
Yellen said she expects the economic recovery to continue but gave no indications on the timing of a next rate increase.
She also highlighted a number of uncertainties facing the global economy, including the prospect of Brexit, which she said could have “significant economic repercussions”.
The remarks came after data on Friday showing that the U.S. economy added just 38,000 jobs last month, the smallest increase since September 2010.
The disappointing data effectively ruled out chances for a June rate hike and prompted investors to push back expectations on the timing of the next rate hike until later this year.
The Fed raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade in December.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.14% at 93.9, not far from Monday’s lows of 93.74, the weakest level since May 11.