Sterling dived to its lowest against the dollar in nearly 10 months on Monday after a poll for the first time showed Scotland was ready to vote to break up its three-century-old union with the rest of the United Kingdom. With just 10 days to go before the referendum, a YouGov survey for the Sunday Times newspaper put approval of independence at 51 percent against the "no" camp's 49 percent.
Until a week ago, financial markets and London-based authorities had regarded the risk of Scotland's departure as unlikely. "The speed with which the polls have flipped has clearly been a shock to a lot of people," said Adam Myers, European head of FX strategy at Credit Agricole in London. Sterling sank more than 1 percent, its most in 13 months, to trade at $1.6150 against the dollar. It was also almost 1 percent lower against the euro, driving the Bank of England's trade-weighted sterling index to its lowest since the end of April. The dollar index rose 0.25 percent on Monday to 83.825. The euro was last at US $1.2945, just off a 14-month low of $1.2918 set on Thursday.
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