Gilts riseas BOE holds rate, pound gains

UK 10-year gilts rose the most in 12 weeks, lowering yields to the least this month, after the Bank of England kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low while turmoil in Europe stoked demand for safety. Sterling strengthened against the euro for the first week in three as signs the euro-region's debt crisis is worsening boosted buying of alternatives to the shared European currency. The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee on July 7 left its key rate at 0.5 per cent and maintained its bond-purchase plan at £200 billion (Dh1.18 trillion), as predicted by all economists in Bloomberg surveys. "Gilts are doing well because of the safe-haven aspect, but the overarching theme is that there isn't going to be monetary-policy tightening for some time," said Simon Derrick, chief currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon Corp. in London. "Sterling is clearly in a better position than the euro, which is really being weighed down by the sovereign-debt crisis." Ten-year gilt yields sank 20 basis points in the week to 3.19 per cent on Friday in London, after reaching 3.18 per cent, the least since June 28. Article continues below Sterling gained 1.8 per cent last week to 88.81 pence per euro. The pound fell 0.4 per cent to $1.6017, after falling to as low as $1.5932 Thursday, the weakest intraday level since June 28. It lost 0.5 per cent to 129.44 yen. Britain's currency has weakened 2.6 percent this year against a basket of nine developed-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency Indexes, as worsening economic growth limits the central bank's ability to raise rates.