The pound is rallying as Britain votes in the EU referendum

The pound is rallying against the dollar on Thursday morning as Brits go to the polls in the country's historic referendum, which will decide whether or not the UK leaves the European Union.

Around 8:30 a.m. BST (3:30 a.m. ET) sterling is around 0.37% higher, having made larger gains in Asian trading overnight. As polls opened at 7:00 a.m. BST (2:00 a.m. ET) sterling was hovering just below $1.48, but fell sharply, dropping to $1.4731 at 7:45 a.m. BST (2:45 a.m. ET). It has since recovered a little.

Here is the chart of how Britain's currency looks so far on polling day:

The outcome of the referendum is uncertain, with polling agencies reporting swings between the Leave and Remain camps in the past few days. For instance, one TNS poll conducted online between 16 - 22 June, and released on Wednesday, puts Remain at 41% (+1), Leave: 43% (-4).

What will happen to the pound on either a Leave or a Remain vote is uncertain, although analysis from banks suggests that the pound could drop as much as 15% in the event of a Brexit, and rally between 5-10% in the event of a Leave vote. Sterling has rallied strongly in the past few days on positive polling data for the Remain camp. On Monday the currency gained more than 2.4% against the dollar to have its best single session since October 2008.

On the day, the pound is also up 0.61% against the Japanese yen and around 0.13% higher against the euro to trade at €1.3037.

Polls across the UK are open until around 10 p.m. and the first results are expected just a couple of hours later. The outcome of the referendum is expected to be clear early on Friday morning. You can follow Business Insider's Live blog throughout the day.