Overnight stock markets tumbled as Donald Trump won the key state of Florida in the US presidential election and looked increasingly likely to win the race to the White House.
Betting markets showed a 97% liklihood of a Trump win at 6am GMT after earlier expectations of a Hillary Clinton victory and the FTSE 100 index looks set to open down around 4%.
The dollar is between 1% and 2% weaker against most major currencies and 3% down against the Japanese yen.
States including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and New Hampshire are still up for grabs, with media reports of strong Trump support in Pennsylvania which has 20 electoral college votes.
At 6am GMT Trump had 244 electoral college votes to Clinton's 215 in a race to a finishing line of 270.
MARKETS IN ASIA PLUNGE
In overnight trading, shares in Japan's Nikkei 225 index had opened higher on expectations of a Clinton White House before swinging to losses in excess of 5% toward the end of today's trading session.
Markets in Hong Kong, India and Australia registered losses of between 2% and 5%. In the UK and the US stocks looked set to fall heavily, according to financial websites.
FTSE 100 shares are expected to open down around 275 points or 4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is seen 3.8% lower, according to market-based indicators.
In currency markets, sterling proved a rare haven, gaining 1.5 cents against the dollar to around $1.251, while the euro advanced two cents against the greenback to $1.128.
Against the yen, the dollar fell from JPY105 to 102.3.
Gold has seen its biggest rally since the Brexit vote. At one point it was up 5% as polls showed a shift in the lead from Clinton to Trump. By 7am UK time it had recorded a 3.6% gain to $1,321 per ounce.
The precious metal jumped nearly 8% on the EU referendum outcome and ended the day up 4.8%.
Oil prices moved south as the world waited for confirmation that Trump had won. Brent crude (European benchmark) futures were down 2.4% to $44.92. West Texas Intermediate (US benchmark) prices retreated to $43.72 per barrel, according to Reuters data.
