Oil prices are down more than 6% in the wake of Brexit as traders speculate about the possible impact on UK and European economies and the implications this has for oil demand.

Gold prices take a divergent path as investors seek out safe havens. The precious metal rebounds from a two-week low immediately before the referendum result to hit two year highs above $1,350 an ounce and many observers think this rally could be sustained for a number of days as uncertainty persists.

Miners Randgold Resources (RRS) and Fresnillo (FRES) top the FTSE 100 leaderboard - up 15% to £74.20 and 11.1% to £13.77 respectively.

This latest shock reinforces the whipsaw nature of oil markets in 2016. In February the European benchmark Brent and its US counterpart West Texas Intermediate hit 13-year lows before nearly doubling on supply outages and hopes for action on the part of big global producers to trade above $50 per barrel.

The tight correlation between equity markets and oil which persisted in the first quarter of 2016 could well return as global risk sentiment wavers.

The long-term concern is that the uncertainty will lead to lower investment in future production with its own significant implications for supply in the future.

And in the short-term the substantial depreciation in sterling against the dollar will make fuel more expensive for UK motorists given oil is denominated in dollars.

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Issue Date: 24 Jun 2016