Sterling rallies as Brexit worries ebb

London

STERLING jumped nearly 2 per cent against a trade-weighted basket of currencies on Monday after opinion polls swung in favour of the campaign for Britain to stay in the European Union, boosting risk sentiment and sending the safe-haven yen tumbling.

The implied probability of a "Remain" vote in Thursday's referendum rose to around 78 per cent after falling as low as 60 per cent last Thursday, according to odds from gambling website Betfair. Trade-weighted sterling rose 1.9 per cent to 86.9, while against the US dollar, sterling was up 1.8 per cent at US$1.4630.