Sterling has reversed early gains and the safe-haven yen staged a rebound in Asia after confidence that Britain will remain in the European Union was badly shaken by the city of Sunderland voted more strongly than expected to leave.
In a dramatic turnaround, the pound slid to $US1.4550, having earlier rallied to a 2016 peak of $US1.5033.
"The pound is plummeting as Sunderland votes heavily for Leave," said Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital.
"Markets are very nervy at the moment as the polls - and the markets - could be wrong," he said.
"The Sunderland result has definitely altered the tone of the evening and markets are getting very choppy."
The yen rose broadly, with the dollar and euro now more than 1 per cent lower on the safe-haven Japanese currency.
The dollar was at 104.70 yen, down from 106.875. The euro fell to 118.87 yen from 122.000.
"It's very jittery and I suppose that's very much going to be the order of the day until we see final results being announced," said Robert Rennie, senior currency strategist at Westpac in Sydney.
"We had the first results from Gibraltar which suggested a landslide and then Newcastle was only a marginal Remain and that was a disappointment."
Market confidence took another blow after a bigger-than-expected vote by Sunderland to leave the EU.
Share
