A survey showed the British campaign to Leave the EU had opened a 10-point lead over the Remain camp

Volatility in currency markets intensified and the pound came under renewed selling pressure late on Friday after a survey showed the British campaign to Leave the EU had opened a 10-point lead over the Remain camp.

A sell-off in the pound accelerated minutes after an ORB survey commissioned by The Independent newspaper showed 55 per cent of likely voters would cast their ballot to exit the EU. The Remain camp was expected to capture 45 per cent of the vote, according to the online poll of 2,052 respondents.

Sterling slid 1.4 per cent against the US dollar to $1.426 and 0.8 per cent against the euro, extending earlier losses hours before foreign exchange markets closed for the week.

The slide in the pound marked its biggest one-day loss since February 22 to near a two-month low as the UK readies for the landmark vote in less than two weeks.

“UK political risk has become the biggest deal in global financial markets,” strategists with Citi said. “Financial markets do not like uncertainty and this referendum provides high-level event risk with a binary outcome and little historical precedence — no wonder so many investors across all asset classes are concerned.”