(Adds comment, details)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Dion Rabouin
NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - Sterling briefly turned
positive against the dollar on Thursday after British police
said Jo Cox, a lawmaker for Britain's opposition Labour Party,
has died after she was attacked earlier in the day.
Cox was one of the MPs advocating for Britain to remain in
the European Union, an issue that will be decided in a
referendum next week.
The attack was a "localized incident," British police said.
"It's possible that markets are viewing this as something
that could move the dial potentially a bit more favorably
towards the 'remain' camp in the sense that it was an attack by
someone who seems to be probably more favorable to the 'leave'
side," said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at
ScotiaBank in Toronto.
"It's possible that investors are anticipating something of
a sympathy bump for the 'remain' camp in the context of this."
The British pound hit a U.S. trading high of $1.4214 GBP=
after the news, but was still down 0.2 percent on the day. It
was last at $1.4177.