Friday preview: Everything to hinge on referendum result

The result of the EU referendum would be in the sharpest imaginable focus on Friday, with traders likely getting up far sooner than usual, if they slept at all, as a precautionary measure given the enormous importance of the outcome for global capital markets.

Ironically, should 'Remain' come out on top, as many financial markets had nearly priced-in over the last week, then the upside in sterling or the Footsie might already be nearly exhausted, Pantheon Macroeconomics said, although Gilts might be likely to see steep losses as haven bids were unwound.

However, should 'Leave' prevail then volatility was likely to be extremely high, will all eyes trained on the possibility that the world's major central banks would announce liquidity measures for their respective banks before the opening bell in London even.

Assuming that 'Leave' won, then investors would scrutinise the IFO institute's June business confidence gauge, followed by data on durable goods orders and consumer confidence Stateside later in the evening.

Here's a schedule of how things will develop overnight:

00:30 Results expected for first counting areas, such as Newcastle and Sunderland
03:30-04:00 Results from half of the counting areas are in
05:00 About 80% of counting areas have reported results, a likely winner to be estimated
07:00 All votes are likely to have been counted and the official result is expected shortly after.

Friday 24 June

INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Artemis VCT, Electra Private Equity, Juridica Investments Ltd., Majedie Investments, Octopus Eclipse VCT 1, Patisserie Holdings , Titon Holdings, Town Centre Securities, Zoopla Property Group (WI)

QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE
GLI Alternative Finance

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
IFO Business Climate (GER) (09:00)
IFO Current Assessment (GER) (09:00)
IFO Expectations (GER) (09:00)

FINALS
Polar Capital Holdings

ANNUAL REPORT
Toyota Motor Corp.

SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Artemis VCT

AGMS
Armadale Capital, BCRE - Brack Capital Real Estate Investments N.V. (DI), BH Macro Ltd. GBP Shares, Boohoo.com, Borders & Southern Petroleum, Coretx Holdings, Evgen Pharma, Horizon Discovery Group, Konami Holdings Corporation, Lenta Ltd GDR (Each 5 Repr 1 Ord) (144A) , Metals Exploration, PJSC Tatneft ADS , Proteome Sciences, Public Joint Stock Company Severstal GDR (Reg S), Sirius Minerals

FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Andrews Sykes Group, Cape, Dignity, Dillistone Group, Flowtech Fluidpower, Inchcape, Manx Telecom , Maven Income & Growth 2 VCT, Mincon Group , Moss Bros Group, Provident Financial, Spectris, Venture Life Group, Xaar