Investing.com - The dollar held onto gains against the other major currencies on Friday, after rallying to a three-month peak fuelled by the U.K. surprise decision to leave the European Union in a historic referendum.
GBP/USD was down 7.51% at 1.3762, after plunging to a 30-year low of 1.3231 earlier Friday.
The pound broadly weakened after the U.K. voted by a substantial margin to leave the EU in a landmark referendum, with the Leave side winning 52% of the vote, against 48% to remain.
Shortly after the Brexit news, David Cameron said he will be standing down as U.K. Prime Minister before his Conservative Party's conference in October.
The Bank of England reacted to the vote on Friday by saying it would take all necessary steps to secure monetary and financial stability after the shock Brexit result.
BoE Governor Mark Carney said the central bank would consider in the coming weeks whether to take additional policy responses but added that it has little room to ease.
In a post on its website, the BoE later said it would not stand in the way of "necessary adjustments" in financial markets.
The European Central Bank also commented on the day’s events, saying it is ready to handle the impact of Brexit on markets and the banking system.
At the open of U.S. markets, the Federal Reserve said it was “prepared to provide dollar liquidity through its existing swap lines with central banks, as necessary, to address pressures in global funding markets, which could have adverse implications for the U.S. economy.”
EUR/USD plummeted 2.37% to 1.1113, off a four-month trough of 1.0913 hit overnight, while EUR/GBP surged 5.50% to 0.8071, after hitting a more than two-year high of 0.8316.
Earlier Friday, data showed that the German Ifo business climate index rose to 108.7 in June from 107.8 in May. Analysts had expected the index to hit 107.5 this month.
USD/JPY hit 99.03 overnight, the lowest since November 2013, before paring losses and settling at 102.37, last down 3.57%. GBP/JPY was down 10.84% at 140.88, after hitting three-and-a-half year a low of 133.30 earlier in the day.
Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Friday that Tokyo will respond as needed to "extremely nervous" exchange-rate moves, as the referendum result roiled markets.
Meanwhile, USD/CHF was up 1.20% at 0.9697 after the Swiss National Bank confirmed it was intervening in the foreign exchange market to weaken the currency.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were sharply lower, with AUD/USD down 1.75% at 0.7483 and with NZD/USD tumbling 1.41% to 0.7146.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD rallied 1.10% to trade at 1.2916. The commodity currencies were hit by a sharp drop in oil prices, also sparked by the Brexit vote.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 2.29% at 95.47, after climbing to three-month high of 96.70 earlier Friday.
In the U.S., the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index fell to 93.5 in June from 94.3 the previous month, confounding expectations for a downtick to 94.0.
A separate report showed that U.S. durable goods orders fell 2.2% in May, compared to expectations for a 0.5% downtick, while core durable goods orders, which excludes transportation items, slipped 0.3% last month, disappointing expectations for a 0.2% rise.