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The United Kingdom’s gilts jumped during Friday’s afternoon session after investors have largely defied the rise in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter of this year, released today, meeting market expectations as well.
Also, Britain’s manufacturing production and trade balance data for the month of September, cheered market investors, again limiting any free-fall in debt yields.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, plunged 3-1/2 basis points to 1.531 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields slumped 2 basis points to 1.961 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year traded nearly 3 basis points lower at 0.810 percent by 09:35GMT.
According to a report from FxStreet, citing data released by the Office for National Statistics, "The UK GDP first estimate showed that the GDP figures came in at 0.6 percent q/q in the third quarter of 2018, better than 0.4 percent seen in the second quarter while matching the expectations. While on an annualized basis, the UK economy’s growth rate arrived at 1.5 percent in Q3, meeting the consensus forecasts of 1.5 percent while rising from a 1.2 percent figure. Separately, the UK GDP monthly release showed that the economy showed no growth in September versus 0.1 percent expected growth and 0.0 percent previous. Meanwhile, Index of services (September) came in at -0.1 percent vs +0.1 percent m/m expected and Index of services (September) arrived at +0.4 percent vs +0.5 percent 3m/3m expected."
Further, the country’s manufacturing production arrived at 0.2 percent m/m in September compared to consensus estimates of 0.1 percent and -0.1 percent (revised higher from -0.2 percent) seen in August, while total industrial output showed no growth in the reported month.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 slipped 0.52 percent to 7,103.76 by 09:45GMT, while at 09:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained highly bullish at -65.71 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
