The pound dropped more than 10 per cent to its lowest level in three decades as the market awoke to the realisation that the Leave camp appeared to be heading for victory in the UK referendum on EU membership.
Dramatic falls in sterling peppered market trading early on Friday, wiping out earlier confidence from exit polls that suggested the Remain camp would prevail.
So acute was market uncertainty as early counts came in that sharp falls were quickly followed by equally severe rises, until the market lost faith in the pound with around half the votes counted.
A stunning slide in sterling at around 3.40am London time saw the pound plummet below $1.40, and 20 minutes later it had breached $1.35 to levels last plumbed in the Thatcher-Reagan era.
That sparked a record 11.4 per cent cent intraday range for the pound, smashing the 6.5 per cent from October at the height of the 2008 financial crash and the 4.9 per cent range on Black Wednesday in 1992.
