Gold “on fire” as UK shocks markets with Leave vote
Spooked investors have continued to pile into gold as financial markets around the world enter meltdown following the UK's vote to leave the European Union.
Gold swelled over six per cent to $1,313.60 at the London close, after climbing as high as $1,355.6 earlier today.
Market uncertainty was increased after Prime Minister David Cameron resigned in the aftermath of the vote.
Gold had fallen in recent days as markets bet that the UK would vote to remain and investors bought into equity.
Read more: Brexit, pursued by a bear – FTSE futures plummet
Stock markets have seen a rapid sell off today however, with the FTSE 100 currently down around five per cent and European markets painting a similar picture.
Gold took other safe havens, such as bonds, with it.
It came as sterling clocked its worst daily fall on records that date back to 1971 — even uglier than the collapse of Lehman Brothers. It fell from a 2016 high above $1.50 against the dollar to below $1.34 in a matter of hours.
Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Forex, said: "The precious metal is on fire and it is the real winner of Brexit situation. Investors are really trying to protect their investment and we are seeing some big bets coming in the market which is pushing the metal price higher."
Read more: Britain hurtles towards Brexit as sterling suffers historic overnight crash
He continued: "We just have way too much uncertainty in the market and there is no clear direction which way these events will fold."
With results in from 298 of 382 voting districts plus partial BBC Northern Irish figures, those in favor of ending Britain's 43-year EU membership were on 51.8 percent of the vote, while those wanting to stay were on 48.2 percent, based on Reuters calculation.[custom id="161"]