KUALA LUMPUR (June 24): The "Leave" result in the UK referendum on membership of the European Union is credit negative for most sectors in the UK, global ratings agency Fitch Ratings said today.

It pointed out this was due to UK's weaker medium-term growth and investment prospects and uncertainty about future trade arrangements.

"Brexit will be moderately credit negative for the UK sovereign and as we have previously stated, we will review the sovereign rating shortly," it said in a statement today.

"Any negative sovereign rating action would affect the relatively small number of sovereign-linked or capped ratings in infrastructure, public finance and structured finance and government-guaranteed bank debt," it added.

Overall, the global ratings agency expects near-term rating actions for other sectors to be limited.

In the medium to long term, it pointed out that any broader rating actions are likely to depend on factors such as the size and duration of the impact on gross domestic product (GDP), the extent of sterling depreciation and their subsequent effect on inflation, asset prices, unemployment and interest rates.

"Failure to agree favourable trade arrangements would also be a significant[ly] negative for some sectors," Fitch Ratings said, adding that UK's status as a major international banking hub could be damaged, as some business lines shift to the EU.

It also noted the higher import costs and pressure on exports due to the potential imposition of tariffs would be broadly negative for corporates.

"The extent to which the UK would be able to limit net inward migration, could be significant for some asset classes," it said.