Stocks lose billions
A selloff by investors wipes billions of dollars off the value of Scottish-linked company shares in a single day. It comes after a YouGov/Times poll shows a small lead for the Yes campaign for the first time ahead of the independence referendum. Deutsche Bank to clients:
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Scottish-based company shares lose an initial 4.8 billion pounds ($7.8 billion) intraday. The losses narrow later in the trading day to 2.6 billion pounds after Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) starts the sale of its U.S. trading arm. Trevor Greetham, a director at Fidelity Worldwide Investment:
The selloff is starting to feel overdone.
Edinburgh-based Standard Life closes 2.43% lower, RBS ends down 1.3% and Lloyds Banking Group falls 2.43%. Perth-based energy supplier SSE, Glasgow pumps specialist Weir Group and fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management all fall between 1% and 2.25%. Alistair Cotton, corporate trader at Currencies Direct warns of further pain:
Markets don’t like uncertainty. We can expect at least a 5% drop in the pound in the face of a Yes vote – and it could be considerably more.