Futures on the S&P 500 Index fell 0.1 per cent, after the U.S. measure extended its advance into a second day on Tuesday, rising 0.3 per cent to 2,088.90.
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Since British lawmaker Jo Cox’s murder last week “a fair bit of repricing has occurred in the pound on the back of the shift in polls that were earlier clearly favouring Leave”, said Rodrigo Catril, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank Ltd in Sydney.
The yen weakened 0.5 per cent, after surging 3 percent over the last seven trading sessions, as a technical indicator – the relative strength index – reached a level that indicated a reversal was likely.
The Fed Chief reiterated that the central bank will take a cautious approach to raising interest rates at upcoming meetings. TNS, a market research firm, said 43 percent of respondents would vote to leave, while 41 percent would vote to remain and 16 percent were undecided or did not intend to vote.
A survey by polling firm Opinium showed the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union holds a one-point lead over the “In” camp ahead of Thursday’s referendum.
The S&P 500 was up less than a point to 2,089. with health-care stocks leading the gains.
WELLINGTON – The S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 30.14 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 6,839.39.
Investors are also keeping an eye on U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s second day of testimony to Congress.
After opening higher, the three major indexes ducked a little below break-even in the afternoon. Walmart shares gained 0.2 percent to $71.10. We have a whole host of economic data points between now and Friday, yet the fact of the matter is that there is unlikely to be much which will avert the gaze of the trading community from the very real possibility of a Brexit.
The so-called “Brexit” risk – or Britain exiting the 28-nation European Union – is still hanging over global financial markets ahead of Thursday’s closely watched referendum. “Investors aren’t going to be doing too much in front of Brexit, and I think Yellen is being careful of what she says in front of it as well”.
Gold, another “safe haven” where investors park their money at times of heightened risk, fell 2 percent to $1,264.88 an ounce, with traders citing the reduction in the risk that the United Kingdom will leaver the EU. Gold fell more than 1%.
The pound added 0.2 per cent to US$1.4720, after reaching US$1.4783.
Phone companies in the benchmark rose to the highest since October 2007, with CenturyLink gaining 1.9 per cent to a five-week high.
US crude oil futures settled down 72 cents, or 1.44 percent, at $49.13 a barrel, off session lows.
Global miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were trading more than one per cent each, while Fortescue rose 1.5 per cent to $3.31.
US natural gas futures fell as much as 1.4 per cent after settling Monday at a nine-month amid forecasts for unusually hot weather across the country through next week.
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Italy’s 10-year bond yield fell two basis points and the rate on similar-maturity Spanish bonds dropped one basis point.
