Wall Street seen higher on UK’s EU vote day

US stocks are set to join their European counterparts higher on Thursday as fears that the UK would leave the European Union continue to recede after last-minute polls put the Remain camp ahead of the Leave campaign.

After closing lower yesterday, futures suggest the S&P 500 is set to open up 1 per cent, putting the benchmark index back on track towards the record high reached in May.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to advance 0.9 per cent while the Nasdaq Composite is seen to kick off Thursday 1 per cent higher.

Jitters over the financial fallout from a possible Brexit have rattled stock markets across the globe in recent weeks. Market strategists said that if UK voters vote to stay in the EU, it could send risk assets, including US stocks, higher, while the opposite outcome could put pressure on a wide variety of assets and spark a rally in havens, like developed-market sovereign debt.

But as Britons head to the polls on Thursday, a new poll from Populus carried out in the run-up to the vote opening showed the remain camp has increased its lead over the leave camp to a total of 55 per cent while 52 per cent of those surveyed by Ipsos Mori for the Evening Standard support remaining in the EU.

The increasing likelihood that the UK will vote to remain in the bloc has in turn emboldened investors and dampened demand for haven assets. The the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note rose nearly 5 basis points to 1.73 per cent, while gold prices fell for a four straight day to 1,262.57 per troy ounce. The dollar was also in retreat, with the DXY index down 0.6 per cent at a six week low of 93.214.

Similarly, the yen has touched a one-week low.

The haven currency, which some analysts see as the only Asian currency to gain if the UK were to vote to leave, dropped to 105.84 per dollar on Thursday, down 1.2 per cent on the levels late yesterday

In June alone, the yen has gained some 5 per cent, prompting the Japanese finance minister Taro Aso to vow to respond in “a stricter manner” when necessary last week.

His warning, however, had little effect leaving the country’s large exporters in despair.