UK gilts sink ahead of BoE Governor Carney’s speech, Q4 GDP data in focus

The UK gilts sunk Wednesday ahead of the Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney’s speech later in the day. Also, investors are now curiously eyeing the fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP), scheduled to be released late today.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilts, which moves inversely to its price, jumped nearly 4 basis points to 1.44 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields also moved higher by 4-1/2 basis points to 2.07 percent and the yield on short-term 3-year remained lower by 1/2 basis point to 0.27 percent by 10:00 GMT.

The BoE Governor Mark Carney is scheduled to speak today, while the central bank will to hold its first monetary policy meeting of 2017 on February 2.

The country’s Q4 GDP is expected to edge lower to 0.5 percent q/q, from 0.6 percent q/q in the previous quarter. It is also expected to come in lower at 2.1 percent y/y, from previous 2.2 percent y/y.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 rose 0.19 percent to 7,163.50 by 10:10 GMT, while at 10:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Pound Strength Index remained highly bullish at 168.06 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex