Market mayhem as BBC calls Brexit outcome

With the majority of ballots now counted, the BBC has forecast that the UK voted to leave the European Union by 52 per cent to 48 per cent.

Sky News, ITV and the Independent newspaper were other major newsrooms that called a Leave victory.

AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver told Mortgage Business that assets experienced sharp falls today and volatility would continue in the short term. However, any lasting impact on local real estate markets was unlikely.

“You’re already seeing a negative reaction in financial markets. That may have further to go in the short term because of the uncertainty about what it will mean, particularly for Europe and the eurozone... I think that’s the main impact here,” Mr Oliver said. 

“We’ve seen quite sharp falls in the British share market and the British pound, in the Australian share market we're down about 3.6 per cent.”  

“The Japanese share market is down almost 7 per cent, so quite sharp falls. The Aussie dollar has also fallen by almost 3 cents to 73.4 cents.

“You have seen quite a sharp fall in assets, reflective of a nervousness amongst global investors,” Mr Oliver said.

“The dust from this will take a while to settle so we could see more reaction in the short term. I suspect... we haven’t yet seen the full reaction by the US share market or the European share market, they’re not open yet... I think the volatility will continue into next week.”

Meanwhile, Asian stocks recorded their biggest fall in five years.

Head of investment strategy at Perpetual in Sydney, Matthew Sherwood, said investors were “trying to get out” as the final votes were counted, Bloomberg reported.

“You sell first and ask questions later. There was a massive miscalculation of risk and now you’re seeing all that unwind,” Mr Sherwood said.

The ASX has plunged 3.7 per cent since the market opened today. 

More to come.