ray of light21 Jun 2016 15:27
just a couple a days, Britain will go to the polls to vote on its membership in the European Union. After 'Leave' took a commanding lead, there's been a dramatic swing back to 'Remain' which is inching ahead in the polls - even David Beckham is on board. The markets are certainly happier: billions were pumped into stocks on Monday and sterling enjoyed its biggest leap since 2008.
The reaction of the markets no matter the result is prescriptive. If we vote to remain, recent gains will continue - broker Panmure Gordon is betting on a 3-5% bounce in UK equities.
While the 'Remain' camp's return to the top is reassuring, this is still a close-run thing. Not only are we in unchartered territory - which gives analysts limited predictive power over voting behaviour, unlike during General Elections - but one cannot rule out an incident in the next 48 hours to swing sentiment back in favour of 'Leave'.
Still, Panmure thinks 'Remain' will win it: "The last few days of campaigning are set to see momentum stay with 'Remain' and we expect sterling and UK equities to continue to take back some of the ground lost during early June," said the broker's head of research Barrie Cornes.
As uncertainty has pulled down stock valuations across the City, the broker has put together a list of those it believes are poised to bounce if the UK votes Bremain.
Among them are the auto group Vertu Motors (VTU