Stock markets were beaten down across the world, today, after Britain voted, in an historic referendum, to leave the European Union. At home, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange had plummeted 811 points, or 3 percent, to 26,192, a short while ago. At one stage the market had crashed over 1,000 points. Similarly, the Nifty at the National Stock Exchange had plunged 263 points, to 8,008, a short while ago. Other key Asian markets in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore suffered big losses of between 1.3 percent and 8.6 percent, after the Brexit verdict. London's key stock index had nosedived 7.6 percent, the German market had slumped 8.6 percent and the market in France had crashed 7.8 percent.In the currency markets, the British pound collapsed by 18 cents, easily the biggest fall in living memory, to hit its lowest since 1985. Back home, the rupee had plunged 62 paise, to 67.87 against the dollar in afternoon trade. Global crude oil prices slumped more than 6 percent in early deals, and were later still down as much as 2.70 dollars, at 48.21 dollars a barrel.But safe haven global gold prices soared 8 percent, to the highest in more than two years. Later, gold was still up a hefty 5.1 percent, at 1,320 dollars an ounce. In Delhi, gold zoomed 1,205 rupees, to a 22-month high of 30,875 rupees per ten grams.