World markets, oil fall on ‘Yes’ vote on Brexit 

The Dollar Business Bureau

Britain has finally made up its mind! The British people have voted to leave the European Union (EU) in Thursday’s historic referendum, leaving the world in a tizzy and impacting the stocks, currencies and commodities worldwide.

Following the vote, Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation. "I will do everything I can as Prime Minister to steady the ship in coming months, but I do not think it would be right for me to captain that ship. There is no need for a precise timetable today, but we should aim to have a new prime minister in place by the start of Conservative conference in October," he said on Friday morning during a press conference. 

The results, officially announced on Friday, showed 51.9 percent votes in favour of the ‘Brexit’ campaign in the historic referendum.

The stocks all round the world headed for one their largest falls on record as Brexit triggered 8 percent decline in Europe's major stock exchanges.

Billions were wiped from the share markets as Europe witnessed the impact of the exit vote, with London's FTSE falling 6 percent in early trade, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 declined 7.5 and 9 percent, respectively, with markets in Italy and Spain dropping more than 11 percent.

Indeed, the British pound sterling, slumped to its lowest level since 1985. The pound declined by as much as 11 percent and was last recorded at around $1.35.

The dollar fell to as low as 99.08 yen, for the first time since November 2013, while the euro was down to $1.10. 

After the results, oil prices fell by more than 6 percent, leaving a huge uncertainty in the market and hurting the EU’s efforts to forge greater unity. 

The US crude declined $2.77 and is at $47.34 per barrel at 0314 GMT. Brent crude was down $2.75 at $48.16 a barrel. Oil prices had increased more than 30 percent this year, before the Thursday's vote.

The exit of a member from the EU is the biggest disaster waiting to happen for the 28 nations-block in its history of 59-years. No nation has left the block before. The rules for exit are contained in Article 50 of Treaty of Lisbon. However, the road ahead for the UK and the EU is unclear. But steps are likely to be taken to provide additional liquidity and to prevent economic harm.