Dollar steps back

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TOKYO/SYDNEY: The dollar erased its early modest gains on Wednesday while sterling stood tall on the eve of Britain´s referendum on whether to remain in the European Union.

Recent opinion polls have mostly shown a shift towards keeping Britain in the EU, but there are some signs that momentum has stalled for the ´In´ camp and the race still looks too close to call.

The greenback briefly popped back above 105.00 yen for the first time in nearly a week late on Tuesday, but last stood at 104.55, down 0.2 percent.

"Some banks are not in the market today, or they are just in for commercial orders, ahead of the vote, so dollar/yen will be rangebound for a while," said Kaneo Ogino, director at foreign exchange research firm Global-info Co in Tokyo.

"Although the odds seem to favour ´Bremain,´ it´s still 50/50, and no one wants to be caught short either way," he said.

The dollar had risen earlier in the session, after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen held the line on Tuesday of "gradual increases" in U.S. rates.