The British pound shrunk to a ten-month low Monday at 11.18am UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) as the Scottish independence poll put the yes campaign in the lead for the first time.
After the daily “Sunday Times” published a poll showing supporters of independence reached 51 percent, surpassing the opponents of independence for the first time, the Great British Pound lost 1 percent in value against the U.S. dollar and GBP/USD ratio saw 1.6159 at 11.18am UTC.
In a previous poll published last week, independence supporters amounted to 47 percent of all voters.
The new poll showed a negative impact on Scottish-based companies. Shares of Edinburg-based Standard Life, a prominent long-term savings and investment business, dropped 3 percent while shares of the Royal Bank of Scotland fell almost by 2.4 percent.
Also SSE, a significant energy company in the U.K., along with Glasgow-based Weir Group and its portfolio management firm, Asset Management, saw declines in their shares ranging from 1.5 percent to 1.9 percent.