UK gilts jump after PM May begins Brexit process; investors eye Q4 GDP

The UK gilts jumped Thursday after Prime Minister Theresa May invoked the Article 50 of the Brexit Negotiations. It will now take around 2 long years for the process to end and officially declare Britain no more a part of the European Union.

Also, investors remain keen to watch the country’s fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP), due to be released on March 31, which will remain crucial in deciding further movements in the money market.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, which moves inversely to its price, slumped 2-1/2 basis points to 1.12 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields also plunged nearly 2-1/2 basis points to 1.72 percent while the yield on the short-term 2-year also traded 2 basis points down at 0.12 percent by 10:00 GMT.

By March 30, 2019, Britain will be out of the EU. "This is a historic moment from which there can be no turning back," Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers in London. The recipient of the letter, EU President Donald Tusk said, "there is no reason to pretend that this is a happy day, neither in Brussels nor in London".

Further, May alarmed European leaders in January with threats to walk away from talks and turn Britain into a tax haven if the EU’s trade offer isn’t good enough but struck a far more conciliatory tone in her letter.

A week after a terror attack in the British capital, she linked security to the economy repeatedly. Her argument reached a crescendo on the final page of the letter when she set her demand for a security and trade accord in the context of wider threats to regional stability that stretch beyond areas of EU competence, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 fell 0.12 percent or 8.87 points to 7,363.50 by 10:10 GMT, while at 10:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained slightly bearish at -83.66 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex