Investing.com - The yen gained in early Asia on Tuesday on continued safe-have demand as markets closely watch polls leading up to a U.K. vote on whether to withdraw from the European Union and awaited the latest word this week from the Federal Reserve on rates.
USD/JPY changed hands at 106.16, down 0.09%, while AUD/USD traded at 0.7382, down 0.08% ahead of a key business survey. EUR/USD traded at 1.1290, down 0.02%, while GBP/USD was down 0.46% at 1.4205.
Sterling has come under pressure in recent sessions amid fears that a U.K. exit or Brexit from the EU in the June 23 referendum could trigger a period of uncertainty in financial markets and hit growth in the region. An opinion poll on Friday conducted by ORB International put support for a Brexit at 53%, against 47% for remaining. A YouGov poll this week showed that the "Leave," campaign overtook the "Stay" campaign in the latest survey, reversing a narrow lead from a poll last week.
In Australia, the NAB business confidence survey for May is due with the previous reading plus-5, while the NAB business survey is also up with the April reading at plus-9.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was last quoted at 94.42.
Overnight, the dollar moved lower against the other major currencies on Monday, as sentiment on the greenback became fragile ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monthly policy meeting due to begin on Tuesday.
Markets have pushed back expectations on the timing of the next rate hike by the U.S. central bank after a dismal U.S. employment report for May, which showed the slowest rate of jobs growth since September 2010.
Meanwhile, the safe-haven yen strengthened as weak economic data out of China and Japan on Monday hit the outlook for Asian economic growth.
Data from China showed that growth in fixed-asset investment fell below 10% for the first time since 2000 in the January to May period.
Another report showed that Japan's business survey index of sentiment at large manufacturers fell to minus 11.1 in the second quarter, from a reading of minus 7.9 in the first three months of the year.