UK bonds retain strong auction demand as record issuance mounts

• British government bond futures rallied by around 10 ticks to touch their day's high after the auction, up 38 ticks.
• But benchmark 10-year gilts trailed price gains in US and German debt and their yields were down 3 basis points at 0.305pc versus 7 bp falls for Treasuries and Bunds.

LONDON: Britain received strong demand at two government bond auctions on Wednesday, as investors remained keen to buy gilts during a month of record issuance to fund coronavirus-related borrowing, at a time when the Bank of England is also buying up gilts.

Investors bid for 2.97 times the 2 billion pounds ($2.50 billion) on offer of the 1.75pc 2037, gilt - well above the 1.89 ratio the last time the gilt sold in October 2019 - and the bond sold at an average yield of 0.625pc.

British government bond futures rallied by around 10 ticks to touch their day's high after the auction, up 38 ticks.

But benchmark 10-year gilts trailed price gains in US and German debt and their yields were down 3 basis points at 0.305pc versus 7 bp falls for Treasuries and Bunds.

An earlier sale on Wednesday of 3 billion pounds of 0.875pc 2029 gilts drew a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.94, well above the long-run average of these auctions though below the record 3.85 at an auction of 10-year gilts last week.

The UK Debt Management Office aims to sell an unprecedented 45 billion pounds of gilts this month, while the Bank of England is purchasing about 13.5 billion pounds a week of British government debt as part of its quantitative easing programme.