UK gilts jump despite higher-than-expected rise in July services PMI; eyes on 5-year auction

The United Kingdom’s gilts jumped during European trading hours Monday after the country’s services PMI for the month of July cheered market sentiments beyond initial anticipations, also rising from the previous reading in June.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, slumped nearly 4 basis points to 0.513 percent, the 30-year yield plunged 4-1/2 basis points to 1.196 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year traded tad lower at 0.427 percent by 10:55GMT.

At 51.4 in July, the seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS UK Services PMI Business Activity Index registered above the 50.0 no-change mark for the fourth consecutive month and signalled a modest increase in service sector output.

The latest reading was up from 50.2 in June and the highest for nine months, but still well below the trend recorded since the recovery from the global financial crisis began in the second half of 2009 (54.4).

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 suffered nearly 2 percent to 7,260.71 by 11:05GMT.