* Risk assets routed Britain votes to leave EU
* Sterling suffers historic fall in massive selloff, yen
jumps
* European shares down 7.5 pct, U.S. stock futures skid,
Asian shares follow
* U.S. bond yields fall most since 2009, pressure builds for
Fed cut
* Oil and commodities battered, gold jumps 6 pct
By Marc Jones
LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - World stocks saw more than $2
trillion wiped off their value on Friday as Britain's vote to
leave the European Union triggered 5-10 percent falls across
Europe's biggest bourses and a record plunge for sterling.
Such a body blow to global confidence could prevent the
Federal Reserve from raising interest rates as planned this
year, and might even provoke a new round of emergency policy
easing from all the major central banks.
Risk assets were scorched as investors fled to the
traditional safe-harbours of top-rated government debt, Japanese
yen and gold.
Almost $1 trillion had been lost from European share prices
ahead of what is expected to be a nearly 4 percent fall on Wall
Street ESc1 when it opens later.
London's FTSE .FTSE dropped almost 5 percent while
Frankfurt .GDAXI and Paris .FCHI fell 6 to 8 percent.
Italian FTMIB , Spanish .IBEX and European bank stocks
.SX7P all headed for their sharpest one-day drops ever.
Worries that other EU states could hold their own
referendums were compounded by the fact that markets had rallied
on Thursday, seemingly convinced the UK would vote to stay in.
Britain's big banks took a $100 billion battering, with
Lloyds LLOY.L , Barclays BARC.L and RBS RBS.L plunging as
much as 30 percent at one point.
The British pound dived by 18 U.S. cents at one point,
easily the biggest fall in living memory, to hit its lowest
since 1985. The euro in turn slid 3 percent to $1.1050 EUR= as
investors feared for its very future.
Having campaigned to keep the country in the EU, British
Prime Minister David Cameron announced he would step
down.
Results showed a 51.9/48.1 percent split for leaving,
setting the UK on an uncertain path and dealing the largest
setback to European efforts to forge greater unity since World
War Two.
More angst came as Scotland's first minister said the option
of another vote for her country to split from the UK -- rejected
by Scottish voters two years ago -- was now firmly on the table.
Sterling sank a staggering 10 percent at one point and was
last down 8 percent at $1.3667 GBP= , having carved out a range
of $1.3228 to $1.5022. The fall was even larger than during the
global financial crisis and the currency was moving two or three
cents in the blink of an eye.
"It's an extraordinary move for financial markets and also
for democracy," said co-head of portfolio investments of
London-based currency specialist Millennium Global Richard
Benson.
"The market is pricing interest rate cuts from the big
central banks and we assume there will be a global liquidity add
from them," he added.
That message was being broadcast loud and clear. The Bank of
England, European Central Bank and the People's Bank of China
all said they were ready to provide liquidity if needed to
ensure global market stability.
The shockwaves affected all asset classes and regions.
The safe-haven yen sprang higher to stand at 102.15 per
dollar JPY= , having been as low as 106.81 at one stage. The
dollar's peak decline of 4 percent was the largest since 1998.
That prompted warnings from Japanese officials that
excessive forex moves were undesirable. Traders said they were
wary of being caught with exposed positions if the global
central banks chose to step in to calm the volatility.
Emerging market currencies across Asia and eastern Europe
and South Africa's rand all buckled on fears that investors
could pull out. Poland, home of eastern European immigrants to
Britain, saw its zloty PLN= slump 5 percent.
Europe's natural safety play, the 10-year German government
bond, surged to send its yields tumbling back into negative
territory and a new record low. EUR/GVD
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS slid almost 5 percent, while Shanghai stocks
.SSEC lost 1.1 percent.
Financial markets have been gripped for months by worries
about what a British exit from the EU would mean for Europe's
stability.
"Obviously, there will be a large spill-over effects across
all global economies ... Not only will the UK go into recession,
Europe will follow suit," predicted Matt Sherwood, head of
investment strategy at fund manager Perpetual in Sydney.
BOND RALLY
Investors stampeded into low risk sovereign bonds, with U.S.
10-year Treasury futures TYc1 jumping over 2 points in Asian
hours, an unusually large move. Yields on the cash note
US10YT=RR fell 25 basis points to 1.48 percent, the steepest
one-day drop since 2009 and the lowest yield since 2012.
The rally even extended to UK bonds, despite a warning from
ratings agency Standard & Poor's that it was likely to
downgrade Britain's triple-A credit rating if it left the EU.
Yields on benchmark 10-year gilts fell 27 basis points to 1.108
pct GB10YT=TWEB .
Across the Atlantic, investors were pricing in less chance
of another hike in U.S. interest rates given the Federal Reserve
had cited a British exit from the EU as one reason to be
cautious on tightening.
"It adds weight to the camp that the Fed would be on hold. A
July (hike) is definitely off the table," said Mike Baele,
managing director with the private client reserve group at U.S.
Bank in Portland, Oregon.
Fed funds futures 0#FF: were even toying with the chance
that the next move could be a cut in U.S. rates.
Commodities swung lower as Brexit is seen as a major threat
to global growth. U.S. crude CLc1 shed $3.00 to $47.11 a
barrel in erratic trade while Brent LCOc1 fell as much as 6
percent to $47.83 before clawing back to $48.18.
Industrial metal copper CMCU3 sank 3 percent but gold
XAU= galloped more than 6 percent higher thanks to its
perceived safe haven status. GOL/
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Brexit graphic package http://tmsnrt.rs/1Ke31HF
Britain and the EU http://tmsnrt.rs/28QKboK
Market reaction http://tmsnrt.rs/28QKdwV
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(EdEditing by Catherine Evans)