Sterling tumbles after poll shows 51pc support Scottish exit

The YouGov poll, released on Sunday, found 51pc of voters backing Scotland’s exit from the United Kingdom in a hefty reversal of the Better Together campaign’s 22-point lead one month ago.

Sterling suffered its biggest intra-day loss in over a year, sliding to $1.6150 against the dollar, its lowest point since November. This follows last week’s decline of 0.7pc as support for the “Yes” campaign continued to rise.

“If the ‘Yes’ vote wins, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 3pc to 5pc fall in sterling,” said Kit Juckes, head of foreign exchange research at Societe Generale.

The pound is vulnerable amid ongoing uncertainty about the outcome of the referendum vote, analysts say, particularly in light of the pound's rally over recent months.

“The latest poll will only add to the pressure on sterling,” said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight. “This will certainly be a challenging week and Monday is likely to be a particularly difficult day for the pound.”

Sterling was the worst performing major currency in the world on Monday.

more