UK gilts gain on weak PMI numbers

The UK gilts gained on Friday after the Markit PMI survey showed that the economy was shrinking at the fastest rate since 2009.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts fell 2 basis points to 0.816 percent, the yield on super-long 30-year bond dipped more than 1 basis point to 1.714 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year bonds slid 1-1/2 basis points to 0.152 percent by 09:40 GMT.

The preliminary UK Markit July manufacturing PMI tumbled to 49.1, market consensus was 50.0, as compared to 52.1 in June. Similarly, the service PMI reading also dipped to 47.4, against market expectations of 49.2, from 52.3 in June.

Lastly, investors will remain keen to focus on the next week’s second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth number.

Meanwhile, cable has fallen heavily, down 90 points to an intraday low at 1.3180, whilst EUR/GBP has jumped by 55 points to an intraday high at 0.8365. The FTSE 100 trading up 0.14 percent at 6,709 by 09:40 GMT.