Loonie loses more than a penny, TSX sheds 239 points after Britons vote to quit EU

A sea of red washed over global financial markets on Friday after Britons' shockingly voted to Brexit the European Union. The pound fell to its lowest point in 31 years, the Canadian dollar lost more than a cent and stocks tumbled.

The Toronto Stock Exchange dumped 239.50points to close at 13,891.88.

On Wall Street, theDow Jones industrial average had its worst day since August, dropping 610.32points, or 3.4 per cent, to 17,400.75in heavy trading Friday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 75.91points, or 3.6 per cent, to 2,037.41. The Nasdaq composite sank 202.06 points, or 4.1 per cent, to 4,707.98for the market'sthe worst fall since 2011.

• CONTINUING COVERAGE: British vote to leave EU puts U.K. on uncertain path
• LIVE BLOG: Reaction to Britain's historicBrexit vote
• EU leaders call for speedy Brexit, French far right touts 'Frexit'

"The initial financial market reaction was especially sour, mostly because the market had become so convinced that Remain would win and not so much because it's a massive negative for the outlook," said Douglas Porter, chief economist atBMO Capital Markets.

"We're headed into a rough week," said KarlSchamotta, of Cambridge Global Payments.

Uncertainty over thevote results sent the Britishpoundon a wild ride. Just after polls closed Thursday, when the Remain side was presumed to have won, itrose to its highest point of the year at$1.50 US. But as the results came in, the poundtumbled more than 10 per cent to $1.3230, its lowest level in 31 years. It later regained some lost ground to trade around $1.3679.

• DON PITTIS: Canadian Brexit impact part fear, but part reality
• NAHLAH AYED:Brexit vote to settle 1 party's rift creates multitude of others

That swing, to its lowest level since 1985, marked the biggest one-day movein the history of the modern pound, shockingfinancial markets, as pollsters and forecasters had almost uniformly predicted a narrow victory for the Remainside.

Canadian-born Bank of England governor Mark Carney moved quickly to try to calm the nerves ofinvestors.

Bank of England governor tries to calm the waves

8 years ago

Duration 0:53

Mark Carney assures central bank will provide 250 billion British pounds

"We are well prepared for this," Carney said. "The Bank Of Englandwill not hesitate to take additional measures as required."

That wasn't enough to save the pound, however, as most world currencies slumped withinvestors rushingto the safety of the U.S. dollar.

At one point, the Canadian dollar was down by more than1.5cents, which would have been itsworst one-day performancesince 2010. The loonie ultimately finished with a loss of 1.37 cents, ending at 76.93 cents US.

The impact on many aspects of the economic picture is unclear. But in the short term, the referendum result is having a significant impact on just about everything.

"Clearly, there will be no rate hikes for the foreseeable future," Bank of Montreal said in a note after the votes were tallied. "In fact, rate cuts are now a distinct possibility in the U.K."

• ANALYSIS: Brexit vote a reminder of when things fall apart

The whipsaw trading was part of broader turmoil in global financial markets sparked by the vote.

"The uncertainty, the not knowing, will not bode well for financial markets," BMO said.

The euro weakened to $1.1108US, down 2.81cents US.

The August contract for light sweet crude dropped $2.47 US to settleat $47.64 US a barrel in New York, after having earlier been down byas much as five per cent.

Gold, which touched its highest point in two years after results showed the Leaveside had won,closed at $1,320USan ounce,up $58.80 on the day. Gold typically rallies during times of economic uncertainty.

Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 3.1 per cent. At one point it was eightper cent lower. The German DAX index sank 6.8 per cent and France's CAC 40 index tumbled eightper cent.

Japan's Nikkei 225 finished a wild day down 7.9 per cent, its biggest loss since the global financial crisis in 2008. South Korea's Kospi sank 3.1 per cent, its worst day in four years. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tumbled 4.4 per cent and stocks in Shanghai, Taiwan, Sydney, Mumbai and Southeast Asian countries were sharply lower.