The euro nursed losses against the dollar on Wednesday as the benchmark German government bond yield turned negative for the first time due to worries that Britain might vote next week to leave the European Union, while investors stayed cautions ahead of a Federal Reserve’s policy decision later in the day.

The euro was flat at $1.1201 after sliding 0.8 per cent overnight to an 11-day low of $1.1189, in a slide that took it from a one-month high of $1.1416 scaled last week.

Germany’s 10-year bund yield had turned negative for the first time on Tuesday after a series of opinion polls showed a big lead for the “leave” camp in Britain’s EU referendum.

“The euro falling against the dollar shows the impact negative German bond yields are having. The markets have to brace for the European Union falling into dysfunction if Britain leaves,” said Junichi Ishikawa, forex analyst at IG Securities in Tokyo.

US Treasury yields

The US Treasury 10-year note yield dropped to a four-month trough on Tuesday in light of the ongoing global flight-to-quality.

The euro also fell against the safe-have yen, which has been bolstered recently on mounting Brexit fears. The common currency was steady at 118.90 yen after falling to 118.51 overnight, its lowest since January 2013.

The yen gave back a bit of ground against the dollar as a bounce by recently battered Tokyo stocks slightly improved investor risk appetite for the time-being.

Dollar vs yen

The dollar edged up 0.2 per cent to 106.260 yen, having bounced from an overnight low of 105.630 thanks to Tuesday’s upbeat May US retail sales data. A drop below 105.55 would take the greenback to its lowest level since October 2014.

In addition to safe-haven bids for the yen, the dollar has been on the back foot against its Japanese counterpart as prospects of the Fed raising rates this month have been dashed by soft US data, notably the much weaker-than-expected May non-farm payrolls report.

FOMC policy meet

The Fed concludes its two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting later on Wednesday.

“The likelihood of the Fed hiking interest rates will be very low while Brexit worries dominate action in the financial markets,” said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo.

“That said, the FOMC meeting will still garner attention as it will give the market a chance to gauge the Fed’s stance on rate hikes at the July meeting and beyond.”

Sterling steadied at $1.4120 after recovering slightly from a two-month low of $1.4091 plumbed Tuesday on Brexit fears.

The Australian dollar traded at $0.7355, within reach of a one-month high of $0.7505 touched last week.

That high was reached as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) appeared less dovish than some had expected last week, when it left interest rates unchanged and did not hint at an explict easing bias. Lower commodity prices, however, have since capped the Aussie.

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