UK gilts flat in muted trading session as Brexit politics still continue to dominate markets

The United Kingdom’s gilts remained flat during European trading hours Thursday amid a muted session that witnessed data of little economic significance as Brexit politics continues to dominate financial markets.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, hovered around 0.682 percent, the 30-year yield remained flat at 1.186 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year traded tad down at 0.518 percent by 10:50GMT.

Politics will inevitably continue to dominate today, but we do not expect any meaningful breakthrough, either with respect to the EU’s decision how to extend the Article 50 or in terms of the main UK political party positions regarding whether to agree to an early general election before Brexit is implemented, Daiwa Capital Markets reported.

Perhaps inevitably, reports suggest that all EU member states agree that there should be an Article 50 extension. But while most of the key players – Tusk, Merkel and Varadkar – concur that the new deadline should be January 31 in line with Johnson’s formal request, Macron continues to press for a short deadline of November 15 unless a new general election is called. A decision one way or the other is unlikely to come before tomorrow, the report added.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 remained 1 basis point higher at 7,328.69 by 10:55GMT.