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Alas! The Pounds Tumbl£s......investing In The Uk Now A Huge Gamble by Kojochyke(m): 2:34pm On Jun 24, 2016 |
The pound plunged to a more-than-30-year low against the dollar on
Friday and the safe-haven yen surged as results of the referendum on
whether to stay in the European Union (EU) showed the U.K. was on
course to leave.
It was confirmed on Friday that Britain had voted to leave the trade
block, after the leave camp secured 51.9 percent of the vote with 17.4
million votes.
But as each of the 382 voting seats declared results throughout the night
local time, currencies gyrated, with the pound finally capitulating to a
session low of $1.3224, after both the BBC and ITV projected the seats'
totals would land in favor of leaving the EU, and senior leave
campaigners called a victory.
That sent the British currency to its lowest levels since at least 1985,
and came just hours after the pound tapped a year-to-date high of
$1.5018, in what may be the currency's most volatile session since at
least 1986. At 8:39 a.m. ET, the pound was fetching $1.3708, an over 6
percent drop over the previous session.
At the same time, the dollar was fetching just 103.03 yen after falling as
low as 99.08 yen, its lowest since 2013. That's down from the dollar/yen
currency pair's 106.81 earlier, when the remain camp had appeared to be
headed for a win.
The pound's tumble against the yen was also stark. The U.K. currency
fetched near 140.48 yen around 8:39 a.m. ET, off from levels around 160
yen early in the Asia session.
The euro also tumbled, falling as low as $1.0909, its lowest since May,
with the common currency off a session high of $1.1432.
Early results at one point had shown the leave camp had as much as
nearly 53 percent of the vote. The pound took a particular hit from early
results from Sunderland, which showed the city voted 61.3 percent in
favor of leave, a stronger than expected outcome.
Sunderland was seen as a bellwether of whether the leave campaign had
managed to sway a blue-collar demographic, according to the think tank
Open Europe.
That roller-coaster action followed an earlier surge in the the pound to
as high as $1.5018 from around $1.48 on Thursday after an initial exit
poll from YouGov showed 52 percent of respondents favored staying in
the EU, while 48 percent preferred leaving. The survey of 4,772 people
involved the polling firm going back to voters it had spoken to previously
to ask how they voted.
Key Brexit campaigner, U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage
declared "independence day" as media outlets began calling the outcome
for leave, having initially said he believed the remain camp had "nicked
it."
Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Images
British one pound sterling coins.
The pound could fall even further, with some analysts having forecast
prior to the voting that it would drop to as low as $1.20 in a Brexit
scenario.
Before the Sunderland results came in, Jim Rickards, editor of Strategic
Intelligence, told CNBC's "Rundown" that "the market was priced for
remain, but if leave wins, there's going to be an earthquake."
The outcome projected by media outlets did send traders running for the
exits, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index plummeting as much as 8 percent
at one point, and posting its worst trading day since March 15, 2011.
Fear of a Brexit has been driving currency trade recently. Some foreign-
exchange traders noted that over the past week or so, customers were
"panic buying" euros and dollars to protect themselves in the event the
leave camp won the referendum.
Sakthi Ariaratnam, global director of Thomas Exchange Global in
London, said that volume had been exceptional over the past couple of
days, with many customers buying other currencies ahead of their
vacations in case a possible Brexit sent the pound lower.
Some customers had told him other exchanges had run out of euros. |
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