Investing.com - Voting got underway to determine whether the U.K. will remain a member of the European Union in a highly anticipated referendum on Thursday.
The vote on a potential Brexit was set to take place between 6:00GMT, or 7:00AM London time, and 21:00GMT, or 10:00PM in London, with results expected early Friday morning.
Recent polls showed that the race between the Leave and Remain campaigns was too close to call.
The YouGov poll for The Times newspaper published late Wednesday showed that 51% of voters supported the campaign to remain in the EU, with 49% supporting Brexit, after a previous YouGov poll showing a lead for the campaign to leave.
A second poll, conducted by ComRes for the Daily Mail newspaper and ITV (LON:ITV) television showed the Remain campaign had a 48% to 42% lead over the Leave camp.
Investors fear that a Brexit vote would hit global stocks, bonds and currencies, in particular the pound, which some analysts have predicted could slump by 15%.
GBP/USD jumped to a daily high of 1.4845, the strongest level since December 31. It last stood at 1.4785 during morning hours in London, up 0.5% for the day. Meanwhile, the FTSE100 climbed 1%.
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