Wall Street was expected to start flat however, having snapped a 5-day losing streak on Thursday and with housing data and Canadian inflation figures due to be released.
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Campaigning for the referendum was halted through Friday following the killing of Jo Cox, a member of Parliament who was a proponent of Britain remaining in the EU.
However, Asian Paints rose by 1.13 per cent, GAIL (1.08 pc), Wipro (0.59 pc), HUL (0.56 pc), Tata Motors (0.40 pc) and Sun pharma (0.27 pc).
On the corporate front, UBS and Credit Suisse were under the cosh amid concerns about capital requirements after the Swiss National Bank said they were likely to need to raise an extra CHF10bn to meet new leverage requirements.
“I think everyone is still in a state of shock as to what this means. It’s hard to know but it certainly disrupted what the market was doing”.
There has been global concern around the vote and impact it could have on global markets.
Both of the down under dollars gains on the greenback, with the Kiwi ahead by 0.06% at NZD 1.4189 per USD and the Aussie 0.29% stronger at AUD 1.3544.
On the economic front, advance estimates of US retail and food sales in May increased 0.5 percent from the previous month to 455.6 billion USA dollars. It was on track for a third week of gains. The US is growing at a solid, if unspectacular, 2-2.5% range, with a 4.7% unemployment rate, yet real interest rates are firmly in crisis mode at around -1.0%. “But after then all bets are off as everything depends on the results of the referendum”, ANZ commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said.
The dollar rebounded in European trading hours and was up sharply against the pound, while investors seeking safety continued to throw money at other haven assets such as German government bonds and gold.
Overnight, Asia’s main stock markets saw modest gains although that was little consolation after a hard week that saw both weak Chinese data and the Bank of Japan hold off on more stimulus but talk loudly about currency intervention. From the immediate possibility of Britain leaving the European Union to the longer-term consequences of aging populations, the world’s major central banks this week just aren’t sure what to do next.
Among the other major gainers, Unitika is gaining more than 5 percent, Tokuyama Corp.is advancing nearly 5 percent and Sumco Corp.is rising more than 4 percent.
China’s CSI 300 index advanced 0.5 per cent and the Shanghai Composite added 0.4 per cent. That helped them cut weekly losses to 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.
CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 104.09 yen from 105.98 the previous day.
The greenback fell against most of its major peers as the Fed’s meeting this week showed fewer officials expect the central bank to raise interest rates a couple of times this year, and policy makers painted a more uneven picture of the United States economy.
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Major Japanese exporters rallied on Friday, with shares of Toyota closing up 2.7%, Nissan adding 1.2% and Sony up by 0.7%. On Thursday, it plumbed a three-year low of 115.51. After the conclusion of a two-day meeting, the US central bank made a decision to keep its federal fund rate unchanged.
