UK gilts gain ahead of October manufacturing PMI amid Brexit hassles

The United Kingdom’s gilts gained during European trading hours Wednesday ahead of the country’s manufacturing PMI for the month of October amid ongoing Brexit hassles and extension of divorce deadline to January 31, 2020.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, slipped 1 basis point to 0.698 percent, the 30-year yield suffered nearly 2 basis points to 1.222 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year also edged nearly 1-1/2 basis points down to 0.530 percent by 12:00GMT.

UK MPs voted yesterday in favour of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s bill calling for an early election on December 12. Amidst this, activity in financial markets was relatively muted earlier today, ahead of the release of the US Q3 GDP advance estimate and the FOMC’s policy decision, Eurobank Economic Analysis & Financial Markets Research reported.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 remained flat at 7,311.70 by 12:05GMT.