Top-flight shares tumbled into the red on Wednesday as the pound plummeted amid economic fears sparked by the EU referendum.
The FTSE 100 Index reversed modest gains to stand 103.29 points adrift at 6442.08 as sterling hit a new 31-year low against the dollar at 1.28 overnight.
The weakest ever GBP/USD rate was US$1.05 in 1981 and online bookmaker Betway quoted 7/2 for the pound to lurk in the region of US$1-1.09 once again.
Betway’s Alan Alger said: “The way sterling is moving at the moment, the dollar overtaking the pound isn’t entirely out of the question at 33/1.”
The FTSE 250 Index, which contains a relatively high number of UK-focused companies, also nosedived 182.14 points to 15,552.54, reportedly losing £31.6bn since the day before the fateful vote.
Meanwhile, fund manager Henderson was being rumoured as the fourth potential City institution to halt property fund redemptions following similar moves by M&G, Aviva PLC (LON:AV.) and Standard Life PLC (LON:SL.).
Connor Campbell at Spreadex said: “The pound has seen yesterday’s horror-show trading continue into this morning’s European session, sparking another round of losses for the property sector.”
And property stocks were indeed on dodgy foundations, with Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV) and Taylor Wimpey PLC (LON:TW.) falling 5.2% to 332.1p and 4.4% to 116p respectively.
Joining them at the bottom of the pile were supermarkets Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO) and W Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW) amid concerns about falling food prices, which dropped 0.8% last month.
Tesco fell 9.6% to 158.95p and Morrisons was 6.9% down at 172.9p.
But precious metal miners and defensive stocks were gleaming as gold prices rose for the fifth day in a row.
Fresnillo (LON:FRES) and Randgold Resources PLC (LON:RRS) were the among the biggest winners this morning, rising 6.3% to 2013p and 3.3% to 9620p respectively.
Small-cap indices were off, with the FTSE AIM All-Share down 8.4 points at 696.79 and the FTSE AIM 100 retreating 43.4 to 3303.36.
Kolar Gold Limited (LON:KGLD) twinkled by 29.2% to 1.55p as the Indian-focused miner on news of a US$2.4mln funding injection for extra drilling within its Geomysore Mining Services arm.
Industrial investor Melrose Industries PLC (LON:MRO) lifted 34% to 550.5p as it agreed to buy heating and air conditioning maker Nortek and launched a £1.65bn rights issue.
Scancell Holdings Plc (LON:SCLP) also got an 8.3% boost to 16.25p as the cancer drug developer unveiled upbeat data from its SCIB1 Phase 1/2 clinical trial in malignant melanoma.
But video technology business Vislink PLC (LON:VLK) lost more than half its value to 15.25p as it warned on annual profits after slower order intake in the second quarter.
And electronic security systems provider Newmark Security PLC (LON:NWT) backtracked 35.7% to 1.8p after it blamed tougher trading for its own full-year profit warning.
Nyota Minerals (LON:NYO) also lost ground, down 32% at 0.04p, after it decided to sell its £25,000 stake in Kefi Minerals PLC (LON:KEFI). Kefi’s shares fell 0.8% to 0.51p.