Sterling smashed as Leave lead grows and BBC calls Brexit
Sterling was down almost 10% against the dollar and 6% lower versus the euro on Friday morning as, with more than half of referendum results counted, Britain looked to have voted to leave the European Union.
The pound stood at $1.3414, a 9.8% plunge from its six-month highs on Thursday and below 1985 lows, after the BBC and Sky News called the result in favour of the Leave campaign at just before 0500 BST.
Pundits suggested the margin of victory for the pro-Brexit vote would be 52% to 48%, which would mean around 1m more people voted to leave the EU than wanted to stay.
Market analyst Craig Erlam of Oanda said: "The overconfidence in the UK to vote to remain in the EU has seriously come back to bite traders in the early hours of the morning. While there is still a long way to go, it is clear that people has significantly underestimated how many would vote to leave on Thursday. I’m sure this volatility will probably continue with plenty of results still to come in the final hours, the only question now is how much further is the pound going to fall."
Some financial commentators were urging Remain supporters not to give up hope.
"It is vile and ugly out there, the British pound is facing its worst day ever," said Naeem Aslam of Think Forex. "Investors were not prepared for this and this is what you get when you have pre-mature celebrations. No surprise there at all.
"However, we think that market is once again reacting too much because the game is not over yet and the situation can still change. Although, some bookies have started to call it game over with 91% of chances of Brexit, but it is not over until it is over. Some big cities are still going to report and it there where we can see the change."
Government figures including work and pensions secretary Stephen Crabb and former defence secretary Liam Fox have called for David Cameron to stay on as prime minister to see the country through the inevitable “turbulence” that a vote to leave the EU will bring.