UK gilts remain divided even as May retail sales beat market expectations

The United Kingdom’s gilts remained narrowly divided Thursday after the country’s retail sales for the month of May smashed market expectations, largely owing to the royal wedding and warm weather that buoyed shopping interests, leading to a rise in purchases.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, rose 1/2 basis point to 1.37 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields slipped 1 basis point to 1.80 percent and the yield on the short-term 3-year traded tad higher at 0.75 percent by 10:30GMT.

Retail sales volumes rose by more than all forecasts by economists in a Reuters poll, jumping by 1.3 percent in monthly terms and following an upwardly revised 1.8 percent bounce-back in April, the Office for National Statistics said. Supermarkets and other retailers said shoppers spent more on food and household goods before the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the middle of the month, the ONS said.

In the three months to May, sales rose by 0.9 percent compared with a 0.2 increase in the three months to April, a period which included heavy snowstorms and unusually cold temperatures, the ONS said.

Compared with a year earlier, sales volumes were up 3.9 percent, the biggest rise in more than a year and again above all forecasts in the Reuters poll. Last week, figures from British Retail Consortium and Barclaycard suggested sales in May rose sharply.

The Bank of England (BoE) expects consumers to feel the benefit of a fall in inflation and rising wages after suffering a squeeze on their spending power last year when the impact of the 2016 Brexit vote pushed up prices sharply.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 traded 0.53 percent lower at 7,662.75 by 10:40 GMT, while at 10:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained neutral at 68.08 (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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