The prospect of Britons voting to leave the EU next week sparked global market upheaval yesterday, with investors rushing to safety and sending the UK’s currency and stocks to their lowest levels in months.
The accelerating shift, which came after a trio of opinion polls showed the Leave campaign leading by significant margins, was most marked in government bonds, where a series of records were smashed as cash flowed into the relative security of sovereign debt.
German 10-year Bunds traded at interest rates below zero for the first time after Japan’s benchmark fell to a new low of minus 0.185 per cent. The UK’s 10-year gilt yield hit a fresh low and the 30-year bond dropped below 2 per cent for the first time.