The pain of Britain's European Union divorce radiated around the globe on Friday, blowing up a storm in the financial markets that may take time to die down and retarding prospects for a recovery in world trade.

Sterling's fall to 30-year lows showed investors saw the British vote to quit the EU as a self-inflicted wound, but economic casualties could spread far and wide.

"The global economy was fragile before and is more so today," Citigroup Inc economists said in a report.