Overnight

Listen not to the falling rain but the falling UK pound that at one point was down over 6% against the dollar before recouping most of it in what was a rough day for the Brexit crowd as those resentful, crusty EU member continue their hostile rhetoric today it was French President Francois Hollande.

The WSJ reported: “The Brexit situation is one of the risk focuses the markets have,” said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. “The question is how is it going to play out.”

The pound fell as much as 6.3% against the dollar to $1.1819 in early Asian trading before recovering, according to Thomson Reuters data. The declines have since narrowed to around 1.9%.

The selloff began with comments by French President François Hollande, who said the EU should negotiate toughly with the U.K. to avoid a fallout on member states. Britain wanted to leave the bloc “but doesn’t want to pay,” which was “not possible,” Mr. Hollande said in comments cited by Sky News.

“I initially doubted what I saw on my screen,” said Kenji Yoshii, a foreign exchange strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo, as the pound tumbled in early Asia trading. The wave of selling Friday follows a rough patch for the pound. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Theresa May set a date to begin leaving the EU. So far in October, the pound was down 4.1% against the dollar. The Nekki was off 0.20%, Hang Seng faltered 0.38%, the Shanghai o.21%, the BSE Sensex fell0.41% and the ASX 200 down 0.3%.

Elsewhere, banks in Japan fell after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kurodacautioned Thursday that European nations should react to the problems affecting their banking system in a timely manner, juxtaposing the current situation with Japan’s banking crisis in the 1990s.

The central banker said the banking crisis in Japan grew more serious and extended as the government took a long time to respond, with the injection of public funds. “It is true that had adverse effect on the macro economy,” Mr. Kuroda told reporters in Washington, D.C.

Computerized trading later caught some of the blame for the down pound. The dollar pound I'd the fourth most active trade pair of currencies. According to Thompson Reuters the range was $1.1819 from $1.2614 before recovering. More recently, it was down 1.4% at $1.2437. That was off last weeks's $130 levels. In February of 1985, the pound fell as low as $1.0520 amid an acrimonious mining-industry strike. The yen drifted lower at 103.78. Mainline Chinese banks were closed for holiday.

Reuters reported, citing OPEC sources, that energy ministers from Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq will be among key OPEC representatives to meet non-OPEC member Russia at the sidelines of an energy conference in Istanbul in the coming week. During Asian hours on Friday, oil traded flat. U.S. crude futures were unchanged at $50.44, after finishing up 1.2 percent in the U.S. session. Global benchmark Brent was down 0.02 percent at $52.50 a barrel, after adding 1.3 percent overnight.

And here's what  gold looked lke after anhter rough day. Last traded at 1255.20.