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The UK gilts remained subdued Friday as investors largely shrugged off lower-than-expected fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) and business investment data.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, which moves inversely to its price, jumped 1-1/2 basis points to 1.13 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields climbed 1/2 basis point to 1.71 percent while the yield on the short-term 2-year traded nearly 1 basis points up at 0.11 percent by 09:10 GMT.
On a yearly basis, UK’s GDP climbed 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter instead of 2 percent expectations. In 2016, the economy expanded 1.8 percent as previously estimated, versus 2.2 percent in 2015.
Gross domestic product climbed 0.7 percent sequentially, unrevised from the second estimate released on February 22. The third quarter growth was revised down by 0.1 percentage point to 0.5 percent.
Further, in the fourth quarter, business investment dropped 0.9 percent to GBP43.5 billion, data from ONS showed today. Gross fixed capital formation increased by 0.1 percent to GBP78.1 billion in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 fell 0.46 percent or 5.92 points to 7,334.50 by 10:00 GMT, and the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained neutral at 19.18 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
