SINGAPORE - The Straits Times Index is on a roller coaster ride in early trading on Friday (June 24) morning, as the Brexit referendum vote count results continue to pull the sentiment sideways.
Within a span of 20 minutes, the lead went from the Leave camp to Remain and back to Leave again, as of 10.10am.
As a result, the STI followed the wild goose chase. Earlier it managed to claw back most of the 1 per cent loss it took right off the start when Leave was shown to be in the lead.
When Remain took the reigns, the STI even managed to post a small gain. But it is now down 0.66 per cent at 2,775.54.
Confusion and volatility will remain the state of play for the next few hours, CMC Markets senior sales trader Alex Wijaya cautioned.
"It looks to be a super tight poll and can really go both ways. Aside from the STI we're also seeing Hong Kong's Hang Seng closing its gap after earlier losses. This will be a very bumpy day for both currencies and equities indeed until the final results are clear."
Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained moments ago and is now back down by 0.29 per cent. A similar reversal is happening in Tokyo, where Nikkei is now 0.71 per cent after a U-shape session in the first hour.
Results from more stations will filter through starting from 10am and by noon there should be relative clarity, Mr Wijaya noted.
He added: "In an environment like this, the long-term position traders need to be very careful, especially the ones that are trading on leaving - they need to ensure they have enough funds to cover the margin usage. But my advice to retail investors is to wait for the final results - it's really hard to call until then."
