Yahoo Finance Pound And FTSE Make Gains After Brexit Slump
The pound and UK stocks have clawed back some ground on Tuesday morning following two days of turmoil in the wake of the UK's Brexit vote.
After slumping to a fresh 31-year low against the dollar on Monday , sterling was just under a cent up on the greenback at $1.33.
The FTSE 100 opened 1.6% up - with every constituent in positive territory - after a 2.6% fall for the index in the previous session.
The declines witnessed on both Friday and Monday meant almost £100bn had been wiped from its market value since the referendum result was known.
Banks, house-builders and airline stocks have felt most of the pain.
The FTSE 250, which is a better indicator of the health of UK businesses than the more global FTSE 100, lost 14% of its value in the same two-day period.
It opened 3% higher on Tuesday.
Stocks in France and Germany also saw gains in early deals - with the CAC and DAX both up by around 2%.
Trading on markets in Asia was reported to be light following the intense activity witnessed on Friday and Monday.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.9% while Japan's Nikkei 225 closed fractionally higher on hopes of a fresh stimulus package from the Japanese government.
Commenting on the situation Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities, said "Short-covering in the currency market and US futures market is limiting selling.
"But overall sentiment remains fragile", he added.
The referendum result, being largely unexpected by markets, has massively contributed to the jitters that were already evident about the state of the world economy.
Uncertainty over the potential impact on Britain and the EU from a Brexit - along with the resulting political crisis in the UK - has sparked warnings that companies and even governments will delay investment.
Ratings agency Standard (Other OTC: SNDH - news) and Poor's stripped the UK of its top AAA credit rating on Monday evening, arguing that the vote "will lead to a less predictable, stable, and effective policy framework in the UK".
Sky News later reported that rival Moody's was likely to revise its outlook on the ratings of UK banks.
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