LONDON (Reuters) - Sterling pulled away from a 5 1/2-month high against the dollar and shares dipped on Tuesday after a poll from Survation showed the campaign for Britain to stay in the European Union has lost some of its lead ahead of Thursday's referendum.
The poll, which was conducted for spread-betting firm IG on Monday, put support for "In" at 45 percent, ahead of "Out" on 44 percent, IG said. Survation's previous poll, published late on Saturday, had shown "In" on 45 percent, three points ahead of "Out".
Sterling fell to $1.4690 after the poll, having traded at $1.4742 just before its release <GBP=D4> and having earlier hit $1.4788, its strongest since January 4. That still left it 0.1 percent up on the day.
Against the euro, the pound gave up its earlier gains to trade flat at 76.945 pence (EURGBP=D4), having traded at around 76.77 pence per euro before the poll's release.
British gilt futures pared losses after the survey. They were last down 26 ticks on the day at 124.68, having stood at 124.55 before it was released.
Yields on safe-haven German bonds also fell, with the 10-year Bund yield down 1 basis point at 0.052 percent <DE10YT=TWEB>.
European shares trimmed gains. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 (FTEU3) index was last up 0.3 percent, having gained almost 0.7 percent before the poll.
Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 share index (FTSE) turned negative, to trade 0.1 percent lower on the day.