European stocks continued to plummet on Wednesday amid continued political and economic uncertainty in the European Union (EU) following the Brexit vote. The British pound dropped to a fresh 31-year low amid Brexit concerns, trading at $1.2962 around 2.30 p.m. London time after dropping as low as $1.2796 earlier.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 1.7 percent, with all sectors posting solid losses. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 was off 1.5 percent, while its domestically-focused FTSE 250 slipped 1.2 percent. France's CAC and Germany's DAX fell even further, off around 2 percent each.
Increasing concern about the outcome of the U.K.'s vote to leave the EU has affected all global markets. U.S. stocks opened lower and Asian markets traded mostly lower on Wednesday, as investors moved funds into safe-haven plays such as gold and silver and sending bond yields to record lows.
Metals Up Over 6%
Precious metals miners were up over 6 and 3.5 percent respectively—as gold rose to its highest level in more than two years, boosted by the risk-off sentiment in markets.
Oil prices, however, fell back into negative territory as concerns over the global economy and a stronger dollar capped gains in the market. Brent and U.S. crude fell into the red, hovering around $47.50 and $46.30 respectively.
U.K. real estate has also been affected by the Brexit decision with most estate companies trading sharply lower while U.K. property funds have stopped trading this week as they didn't have the liquidity to allow investors to redeem their money.