LONDON ¨C The campaign to keep Britain in the European Union got a boost from two opinion polls published late on Wednesday, a few hours before voters begin to cast their votes in a historic EU membership referendum.

The news pushed sterling to its highest level against the dollar so far this year on the signs of a last-minute rise in support for staying in the EU. Investors have mostly feared that a so-called Brexit would damage the economy in Britain and possibly beyond.

A telephone survey by polling firm ComRes, conducted for the Daily Mail newspaper and ITV television, showed the ¡°Remain¡± campaign had a 48 percent to 42 percent lead over ¡°Leave.

A previous ComRes poll for The Sun newspaper, which was published on June 14, had given a lead of just 1 point to the ¡°Remain¡± camp, which has been led by Prime Minister David Cameron and the heads of Britain¡¯s other major political parties.

¡°As anticipated, the final campaign week has seen a boost for the status quo. But if ¡®Remain¡¯ win, as now appears likely, it will be a victory lacking enthusiasm,¡± Andrew Hawkins, chairman of ComRes, said in a statement.

At almost the same time, another poll by YouGov for The Times newspaper showed ¡°In¡± leading ¡°Out¡± by 51 to 49 percent. A previous YouGov poll for The Times had put ¡°Out¡± ahead.

¡°Our current polling suggests the race is too close to call, but the recent trend has been towards ¡®Remain¡¯ just as other referendums in the past have shown late movement towards the status quo,¡± YouGov director Anthony Wells said.

Betting odds moved further in favor of a vote to stay in the EU after the two polls were published. Betfair, a gambling firm, showed the probability of an ¡°In¡± vote rising to almost 80 percent.

Two other opinion polls published earlier on Tuesday both showed the ¡°Leave¡± campaign narrowly ahead although one of them, by research firm TNS, showed its lead had been reduced to two points from seven points in its previous poll.