Continuing our coverage of what promises to be a very volatile week in the financial markets, leading European index futures were indicating to open up big, as bullish momentum swept European markets following end-of-weekend polls supporting the Remain side of this Thursday’s Brexit referendum in the UK.
With Brexit fears easing, the main winner in early Monday trading was the British Pound. The GBPUSD Cable trade – which was as low as 1.401 on Thursday – began changing hands at about 1.45 in early Asia trading and continued to rise during the day, crossing above 1.46 for a while near the top of its three month trading range.
As at the time of writing, the GBPUSD sat at 1.457.
GBPUSD trading early Monday June 20. Source: FxPro.
There is still a long way to go between now and Thursday’s pivotal vote. However right now it looks like the major turning point of Brexit was Thursday’s murder of pro-Remain MP Jo Cox. Cox’s murder seemed to take the wind out of the sails of the pro Brexit camp, and brought both sides of the debate to commit to tone down rhetoric which seemed to support the more moderate Remain side.
Interestingly, the Japanese Yen – which has been a safe haven currency in all the GBP volatility the past few weeks – continued its climb against the Dollar in Monday trading, being quoted in the 104.7 range as at the time of writing. This is the Yen highest level against the USD since late 2014.
It is bound to be a very exciting week in the currency markets. We will continue to bring LeapRate readers all the key developments as they occur.