Pound surges big since 2008 as ‘Remain’ leads in surveys

Bloomberg

The pound climbed the most since 2008, spurring a global rally in higher-yielding currencies, as polls signaled the campaign for the U.K to stay in the EU was gaining momentum.
Sterling’s volatility diminished as surveys taken after the murder of pro-EU lawmaker Jo Cox showed “Remain” gaining lost ground. A poll from Survation taken June 17-18 for the Mail on Sunday newspaper showed “Remain” backed by 45 percent and “Leave” by 42 percent, reversing positions from Survation’s previous poll. The pound gained at the end of last week after campaigning for this Thursday’s referendum was suspended following Cox’s death.
“Weekend polls suggested the tragic death of Jo Cox may be shifting some support back to “Remain” — that has helped risk sentiment a bit,” said Robert Rennie, the global head of currency and commodity strategy at Westpac Banking Corp. in Sydney.

Risk On
Sterling climbed 2 percent to $1.4648 as of 9:23 a.m. in London, the biggest gain since December 2008, after advancing 1.1 percent on Friday to complete its first weekly advance this month. A one-week gauge of implied volatility for the pound versus the dollar dropped to 37.2 percent from a record close of 47.9 percent in the previous session. Hedge funds and other large speculators have cut bets on a sterling decline versus the dollar, known as net shorts, in the week ended June 14 from a three-year high the previous week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington.
Among the other currencies gaining on Monday as the probability of Brexit was seen to decline:
The euro rose 0.7 percent against the dollar, the most in more than two weeks Norway’s krone and Sweden’s krona jumped at least 1 percent against the dollar The Aussie and kiwi strengthened at least 0.9 percent The yen retreated 0.4 percent, set for its first decline in seven days Eastern European currencies surged, with the Polish zloty rising 0.7 percent
A JPMorgan Chase & Co. index of Group-of-Seven currency volatility has declined to 11.6 percent, after closing at 12.8 percent on June 14, a level unseen since December 2011.