Sterling briefly up vs dollar after death of pro-EU UK member of parliament

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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 (Other OTC: ITGL - news) '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 (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . trading high of $1.4214 after the news, but was still down 0.2 percent on the day. It was last at $1.4177.

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)