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BUSINESS
Mark Carney

British markets bet Scots will stay in U.K.

Doug Carroll
USA TODAY
A Scottish 10 Pounds Sterling note lies amongst regular British Pound notes in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Sept. 11, 2014. Yes and NO camps in the Scottish referendum continue to debate whether Scotland can keep the pound as its own currency if it votes to become independent.

As Scots voted on whether to become a separate nation, financial markets appeared to be betting they'll decide to stay in the United Kingdom.

As early returns showed opponents of independence in the lead, the British pound sterling was up slightly at $1.6511 overnight.

Britain's blue-chip stock index, the FTSE 100, closed Thursday up 38.39 points, 0.5%, Thursday. Britain's pound rose 0.8% to finish at 1.6402 against the U.S. dollar

Against the euro, it touched the strongest level since August 2012, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.

It's unclear whether Scotland will be able to continue using the British currency if the nation votes to break away from the United Kingdom.

Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney says the Scottish National Party's desire to keep the U.K.'s central bank and currency as its own is not compatible with sovereignty. SNP leader Alex Salmond says the pound belongs as much to Scotland as it does to England.

Polls close in Scotland at 5 p.m. ET and results won't be known until hours later.

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