* Polls show "In" gaining momentum before referendum
* European stocks add nearly 3 percent, Asian shares gain
* Sterling rises strongly, safe-haven yen falls
* Low-risk debt yields rise, gold drops as safety bid eases
* Brent crude nears $50 a barrel on reduced Brexit fear
By Nigel Stephenson
LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - Global stocks rose sharply on
Monday and sterling strengthened broadly while safe-havens
including the yen and gold retreated, after polls showed support
for Britain staying in the EU regaining momentum before
Thursday's referendum.
Sterling has been at the sharp end of worries Britons will
vote to leave the European Union, and the easing of those
concerns pushed the pound up 1.9 percent against the dollar - on
track for its biggest daily gain since October 2009 - and more
than 2 percent versus the yen.
Share prices, which fell globally in recent days on
prospects of Britain quitting the bloc as some polls showed the
"Leave" campaign ahead, rose strongly.
Wall Street looked set for a positive open, with index
futures ESc1 1YMc1 NQc1 up 1.2-1.3 percent.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 added 3.7
percent, led by a 4.5 percent rise in banks .SX7P , while
Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 index .FTSE chalked up a 3.2
percent gain.
For Reuters new Live Markets blog on European and UK stock
markets see reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=http://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?pageId=livemarkets
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS rose 1.7 percent. Japan's Nikkei .N225 climbed
2.4 percent as the yen lost ground.
Two weekend polls showed "In" regaining the lead and another
showed the "Out" campaign's lead narrowing, though the overall
picture is of an evenly split electorate. Bookmakers' odds have
shown those wishing to stay in the EU ahead and Betfair put the
implied probability of a vote to "Remain" at 72 percent on
Monday, up from 60-67 percent on Friday.
Campaigning resumed on Sunday, having been suspended for
three days after British lawmaker Jo Cox was killed in the
street in her constituency on Thursday.
Sterling rose as far as $1.4671 and was last up 1.9 percent
at $1.4628 GBP= , having hit a two-week low of $1.4013 on
Thursday. It soared 2.3 percent to 153.00 yen GBPJPY= and 1.5
percent against the euro to 77.36 pence EURGBP= .
"The momentum has changed, and perhaps this is the first
sign of what a lot of the polling experts had been suggesting,
which is that the 'don't know' portion was going to be crucial
and historically there tends to be a shift towards the status
quo in the final days before a referendum," Bank of
Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ's European head of global markets research,
Derek Halpenny, said.
"I think that's what the market is reacting to."
EURO
The euro, which has also suffered due to Brexit worries,
strengthened 0.4 percent to $1.1326 EUR= , having risen as far
as $1.1382.
The yen, often sought by investors in times of market
tension, fell 0.4 percent to 104.54 per dollar JPY= . The
dollar fell 0.6 percent against a basket of currencies .DXY .
Yields on low-risk government bonds, another asset sought in
troubled times, rose. U.S. 10-year Treasuries US10YT=RR
yielded 1.66 percent, up 4.6 basis points, after hitting a
four-year low of 1.518 percent on Thursday.
German 10-year yields DE10YT=TWEB were close to 0.05
percent, up from a record low of minus 0.037 percent on
Thursday.
Oil prices, which have also been under pressure from Brexit
nerves, extended Friday's gains. Brent crude LCOc1 topped $50
a barrel for the first time since June 14. It last traded at
$50.08, up 91 cents on the day.
Gold XAU= , another safety play, fell 1.4 percent to just
below $1,280 an ounce. It rose 1.5 percent on Friday for its
biggest single-day gain since June 3.