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The UK gilts plunged Monday after investors largely shrugged-off lower-than-expected services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the month of May, released earlier today. Also, investors are eyeing the 5-year auction, scheduled to be held on June 6, for further direction in the debt market.
In addition, the upcoming snap election in the country, scheduled for June 8 as was declared by Prime Minister Theresa May has added further uncertainties and clouded the outlook for the money market.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, jumped 3 basis points to 1.06 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields also climbed 3 basis points to 1.72 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year traded 1 basis point higher at 0.12 percent by 10:20 GMT.
The headline seasonally adjusted IHS Markit/CIPS Services PMI Business Activity Index registered 53.8 in May, to remain above the 50.0 no-change value for the tenth consecutive month. However, the index dropped from 55.8 in April and signalled the slowest expansion of service sector output since February.
Following the weekend’s tragic attacks in London, official election campaigning has now resumed ahead of the vote on Thursday. While Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party is still widely expected to take the largest share of the vote, recent polls have flagged significant uncertainty about the precise outcome, suggesting that it might be a tighter run race than initially thought.
Indeed, several polls suggest that May’s lead had narrowed considerably from when she first called the election, with the latest YouGov poll giving the Tories only a single-digit percentage lead, down from around 20 percentage points in mid-April.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 fell 0.35 percent or 25.88 points to 7,521.75 by 10:20 GMT, while at 10:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained neutral at 13.44 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
