Managers welcome BoE's £75bn gilt buys

Bank of England's plans create up to £150bn in its Asset Purchase Facility given warm reception among managers in the fixed income sector

Fixed income managers have welcomed the Bank of England's plan to buy almost £75bn of gilts, which has seen prices in the sector soar. The central bank announced last Thursday it had Treasury permission to create as much as £150bn in its Asset Purchase Facility - a fund it has been using to buy £4bn of commercial paper since the end of January. And it has the initial go ahead to spend half of this over the next three months, with an unspecified majority of the cash to go on auctions of five to 25 year gilts from secondary holders. The Bank also says it will be using some of the APF to...