UK gilts fall despite lower-than-expected September retail sales data; BoE Governor Carney’s speech in focus

The United Kingdom’s gilts fell during Thursday’s afternoon session despite a lower-than-expected reading of the country’s retail sales data for the month of September. Market participants will now be looking forward to Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney’s speech, scheduled to be delivered on October 19 by 15:30GMT for further direction in the debt market.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, rose nearly 1-1/2 basis points to 1.590 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields gained 1 basis point to 1.970 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year too traded nearly 1 basis point higher at 0.809 percent by 09:50GMT.

Britain’s retail sales volumes in September dropped by 0.8 percent from August - a bigger fall than economists had expected in a Reuters poll - after the largest decline in food purchases since October 2015, Reuters reported, citing data released by the Office for National Statistics.

Annual sales volume growth slowed to 3.0 percent from 3.4 percent, in contrast to the pick-up expected by economists, though looking at the quarter as a whole, annual growth was the strongest for a calendar quarter since the end of 2016.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 rose 0.15 percent to 7,065.89 by 09:55GMT, while at 09:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained slightly bearish at -77.79 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex