Currencies had initially also gotten a tailwind after a key Brexit campaigner, U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, announced early on Friday that he believed the remain camp had “nicked it”.
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Currency markets swung wildly as the results of the United Kingdom referendum on whether to stay in the European Union (EU) began to come in.
Meanwhile, early results indicated the Leave camp was performing above expectations, notching up victories by wider than forecast margins in bellwether areas, including Sunderland and Swindon.
At one point the value of sterling jumped – a sign that investors expected Britain to remain in the EU.
“The sterling will move alongside with the vote result announcement today”.
A larger than expected vote for the Leave side in northern England saw markets lose confidence that the United Kingdom would stay in the EU.
“The responses to each result have been straightforward”, DBS said in a morning note Friday.
The Remain side led in Scotland and Northern Ireland but lagged behind Leave in England, with the vast majority of votes still left to count.
Pound slumps after Sunderland results. It quickly fell from 1.50 to 1.43 against the United States dollar as earlier confidence in the markets took a hit.
Other analysts agreed, with markets remaining on edge.
The pound recovered a little but then plummeted again to nearly $1.40 after a heavy defeat for Remain in Sunderland.
But there was caution in some quarters about the potential impact of market speculation.
Some customers had told him other exchanges had run out of euros.
Highlighting the sense that the race will be tighter than thought, leading British bookmaker Betfair slashed the odds on a win for the “Remain” to 66 percent from 90 percent.
The Remain campaign’s Chuka Umunna told Sky News he was “reasonably confident” that Britain would be staying in the 28-member bloc. Fisher Investments had around $65 billion in assets under management at the end of the first quarter.
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The yen rose broadly, with the dollar and euro now more than 1 per cent lower on the safe-haven Japanese currency. At 9:41 am, the dollar was fetching 104.84 yen.
