London: The pound collapsed to its lowest level since 1985 as the unit takes a beating on fears that Britain will vote to leave the European Union, in what critics warned would be a hammer blow to financial markets.
The unit tumbled to $1.3466, its weakest level in three decades, according to Bloomberg data, as results in the EU membership referendum showed the "Leave" camp posting big wins.
The pound initially soared as polls closed and two opinion surveys put "remain" ahead and two leading supporters of the "leave" campaign said it appeared the pro-EU side had won. But it then suffered its biggest fall in years, plummeting from about $1.50 to almost $1.40 as results began to show stronger-than-expected support for quitting the bloc.
With just about 6 million of an expected 16 million votes counted, the result was effectively a 50-50 split but "remain" was underperforming analysts' expectations.
The Betfair market predicted a 51% chance of Britain leaving the EU the first time in the referendum campaign the option has become the favourite. Bookies' odds on Brexit also shortened to as short as 6-5. They had been 5-1 only hours earlier, as polls pointed to a "remain" win.
A vote to leave the EU would destabilise the 28-nation trading bloc, created from the ashes of World War II to keep the peace in Europe. A "remain" vote would nonetheless leave Britain divided and the EU scrambling to reform.
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