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.