UK gilts rebound after October employment report disappoints investors’ sentiments; BoE policy decision in focus

The UK gilts rebounded Wednesday after the country’s employment report for the month of October disappointed investors’ sentiments, adding to rise in prices in the debt market. Also, investors are curiously awaiting the Bank of England’s (BoE) monetary policy decision, scheduled for December 14 for further direction in the debt market.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, rose nearly 1 basis point to 1.23 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields hovered around 1.80 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year traded 2 basis points higher at 0.49 percent by 10:20GMT.

The country’s employment rate fell from 75.3 percent over the three months to September to 75.1 percent over the three months to October. But strong growth in employment in earlier months means there were still 325,000 more people in work over the three months to October than in the same months a year earlier.

Further, Between August and October, there were 32.08m people in work, 56,000 fewer than in the three months before, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday. The number of people aged 16 to 64 in work fell by 70,000 but this was partially offset by a 14,000 increase in the number of people in work aged 65 and over.

Average wages, excluding bonus payments, were 2.3 percent higher between August and October than over the same period a year earlier. This was little changed from a month earlier when annual earnings growth was 2.2 percent. Including bonuses, annual wage growth accelerated from 2.3 percent in the three months to September to 2.5 percent in the three months to October. The faster growth in total pay was largely driven by pay in the finance and business services sector, where bonus pay was 19.7 percent higher than a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 traded flat at 7,499.75 by 10:25 GMT, while at 10:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained neutral at -68.62 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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