UK gilts slump ahead of BoE Governor Carney’s speech, March retail sales

The UK gilts slumped Thursday as investors wait to watch the Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney’s speech, scheduled to be held later in the day. Also, the country’s retail sales during the month of March, scheduled to be released on April 21 will provide further direction in the debt market. 

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, which moves inversely to its price, jumped 2 basis points to 1.08 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields climbed 1-1/2 basis points to 1.67 percent while the yield on the short-term 3-year traded nearly 1-1/2 basis points higher at 0.24 percent by 09:20 GMT.

BoE Governor Mark Carney is scheduled to speak at two fringe meetings at the conference. He may talk largely about International economic issues. If he does touch on UK domestic conditions he is very unlikely to depart from his previous dovish policy position, particularly given recent signs that UK economic growth is decelerating.

A larger-than-expected March trade surplus reflected stronger-than-expected exports, although a sharp rise in imports still meant that the surplus was lower than in February. As expected the UK House of Commons voted in favour of PM Theresa May’s request for an early general election. The latest opinion poll taken after the PM’s call showed the Conservatives with a 24 percent point lead over Labour.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 fell 0.17 percent or 12.21 points to 7,102.15 by 09:20 GMT, while at 09:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained highly bullish at 124.97 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex