UK gilts rise following disappointment in equities; higher energy prices offset gains

The UK gilts rose Friday, following disappointment in the country’s riskier equities, while a slight uptick in energy prices offset the upside.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, which moves inversely to its price, fell nearly 1/2 basis point to 1.22 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields also slid nearly 1-1/2 basis points to 1.79 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year traded 1 basis point lower at 0.14 percent by 09:30 GMT.

Britain’s mortgage approvals of 42,613 in February were 3.4 percent lower than January's revised 44,142 and 4.6 percent lower compared to the February last year, some way short of the 44,900 consensus forecast.

The BBA's high street banking data showed mortgage borrowing of GBP13.4 billion falling 4.3 percent compared to the preceding month but was up 4.6 percent year on year, or 2.5 percent after allowing for repayments. Further, consumer credit grew at an annual rate of 6.6 percent but business borrowing continued to be subdued, growing by 0.9 percent annually.

On the contrary, the International benchmark Brent futures moved higher by 0.61 percent to USD50.87 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 0.61 percent to USD47.99 by 09:40 GMT.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 fell 3.46 percent to 7,337.50 by 09:40 GMT, while at 09:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained neutral at 56.43 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex