Britain's Chancellor Philip Hammond listens as Prime Minister Theresa May gives her speech on the final day of the annual Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Britain, October 5, 2016. REUTERS/Toby Melville

LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor Philip Hammond said sterling’s sharp fall this week may reflect investors’ realisation that Britain is going to leave the European Union, Sky News reported on Friday.

“Perhaps what happened this week was that ... (investors) reacted and took on board the fact that Brexit was going to happen,” Hammond was quoted as saying by a Sky reporter on Twitter.

“This will be a period of turbulence. I expect that we will feel turbulence. There will be ups and downs,” Hammond added, saying he did not think the entire fall in the pound was due to technical factors.

Hammond has been meeting media in Washington before a meeting of the International Monetary Fund, as sterling looks set for its heaviest weekly fall since 2009.