US dollar declines as Brexit fears ease

The US dollar decreased against most major currencies on Monday as the euro and British pound rallied after polls swung in favour of the campaign for Britain to remain in the European Union.

A referendum will be held on Thursday to decide whether Britain should leave or remain in the European Union.

New polls released over the weekend showed those wanting to stay in the European Union holding a slim majority over the leave campaign, according to media reports on Monday. The polls indicated a swing back to "Remain" after the killing of British politician Jo Cox, Xinhua reported.

The shared currency rose 0.33 per cent against the greenback during the session on Monday. Meanwhile, the sterling surged more than 2 per cent against the greenback.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.57 per cent at 93.670 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to $1.1313 from $1.1285 of the previous session, and the British pound increased to $1.4674 from $1.4369. The Australian dollar went up to $0.7458 from $0.7400.

The dollar bought 103.93 Japanese yen, lower than 104.19 yen of the previous session. The dollar climbed to 0.9627 Swiss francs from 0.9593 Swiss francs, and it inched down to 1.2809 Canadian dollars from 1.2864 Canadian dollars.

--IANS

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