The British pound fell to a 30-year low and the Australian dollar slumped by around US2c to below 74c.
The Australian market fluctuated wildly as early results had the two camps neck and neck.
After opening higher this morning, the S&P/ASX 200 was as much as 3.8% lower when it emerged that the leave vote could get up.
The index closed 3.2% or 167.5 points lower at 5113.2 points.
FTSE 100 futures were more than 500 points down, German futures were more than 1000 points down, and the Dow Jones futures were down by 630 points, indicating a horror Friday for global markets.
IG predicts the turmoil will continue.
“The result of the referendum is unprecedented,” it said.
“It is impossible to predict what happens next. The momentum is currently with perceived safe havens: the gold price has surged, the Japanese yen has surged, the dollar is up against most currencies bar the yen.”
The gold price soared by as much as $US100 an ounce, hitting a peak of $1358/oz, before settling at around $1321/oz.
While diversified miners slumped 7.2% in the ASX 200, gold producers jumped by 9%.
Evolution Mining was a standout with 12.3% jump.
BHP Billiton performed particularly badly, slumping by 8%. Rio Tinto wasn’t far behind with a 6.5% drop.
The two companies are expected to be poor performers when the London Stock Exchange opens as base metals had slumped by more than 2% each in Asian trade.
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