Ahead of an election next week, the Conservatives could lose 20 of the seats it currently holds while the Labour Party could gain 30 additional seats, according to the poll by YouGov. This would result in a loss of the Tories’ overall majority at parliament, The Times newspaper reported.
The British pound traded at $1.2806 in Asia following the news compared to highs of $1.2867 seen in the overnight session. The pound had traded at levels around the $1.29 handle last week, but slipped to a one-month low last Friday after polls showed May’s lead narrowing over Labour.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 traded lower by 0.42 percent while the Kospi dipped 0.34 percent in early Wednesday trade.
The S&P/ASX 200 was largely steady, trading higher by just 0.07 percent.
In economic news, Japan industrial production for April rose 4 percent from last month, compared to the 4.3 percent estimated by a Reuters poll. The yen was slightly stronger, with the greenback fetching as little as 110.78 compared to around 110.84 earlier.
China manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI for the month of May is due at 9:00 a.m.
South Korea’s LG Display was flat in early trade after jumping in the last session. The jump in share price followed news the company was “reviewing” an increase in its investments in flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screen production, the Financial Times reported.
In other currency news, the dollar index traded at 97.435 at 8:00 a.m. HK/SIN.
“The dollar index remains under pressure despite drifting to a seven-night high overnight. The shallow retracement can be partly explained by lower liquidity due to (the) three-day weekend in the U.S. and weakness in the euro, neither of which are compelling reasons to buy the dollar,” ThinkMarkets Senior Market Analyst Matt Simpson said in a Wednesday morning note.
Brent crude added 0.15 percent to trade at $51.92 a barrel while U.S. crude was mostly flat, adding 0.02 percent to trade at $49.67. Prices of Brent crude had fallen almost 1 percent in the overnight session on worries about an oversupply in the oil markets.
After the long weekend, Wall Street closed lower on the release of key economic data stateside.